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FROM "POILU" TO "YANK" 




JEANNE d'ARC AND THE CATHEDRAL AT RHEIMS 

The author and Paul Kurtz standing at the foot of the statue 



FROM "POILU" 
TO "YANK" 

BY 

William Yorke Stevenson 
Section No. 1, American Ambulance, 1917 

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 




BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 

1918 



•^ 






COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY WILLIAM YORKE STEVENSON 



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



Published October iqiB 



SO 



NOV 20 1918 

©CI.Ar)(t6652 
^^0 \ 



INTRODUCTION 

When we parted from the happy-go- 
lucky heir to Leslie Buswell's famous 
Ambulance No. 10, — now, alas, defunct 
and gone to its long rest on the scrap heap, 
— he and his somewhat wheezy ''Ford" 
had just gone through the fiery furnace 
of what at that time was regarded as the 
greatest battle fought by the French 
armies since the battle of the Marne — 
the victorious battle for Fleury-Souville- 
Tavannes, near Verdun. That the young 
American volunteers had done their full 
duty on that momentous occasion appears 
without comment on the last page of the 
lively account of the fray as described by 
the author of At the Front in a Flivver, 
where the citation of the entire Section 
No. 1 in the order of the Army Corps is 



vi INTRODUCTION 

reproduced. This was awarded for the 
brilUant and devoted work done by the 
Section in the months of August and Sep- 
tember, 1916. It is a curious fact that one 
year later, Lieutenant Stevenson's ac- 
count of the battle and of the sort of work 
done by himself and his companions, so 
highly recognized by the heads of the 
French Army, received further confirma- 
tion from a source which, though humbler, 
was even still better qualified to pass judg- 
ment upon its quality. 

The incident referred to is sufficiently 
singular to be given here. It was some- 
time in early November of the following 
year — 1917 — that a French officer of 
infantry. Lieutenant Froument, arrived 
on leave in Philadelphia, where he had 
lived many years prior to the war, earning 
his living as instructor in languages in a 
well-known school. That he had distin- 
guished himself in sundry places of danger 



INTRODUCTION vii 

was attested by the array of his decora- 
tions. Not only did the much-valued 
Croix de Guerre appear upon his breast, 
but four silver stars enhanced its value, 
in addition to a Russian order. 

To the inquisitive reporter of a Phila- 
delphia evening paper, who interviewed 
him on his arrival, he obligingly told the 
story of each star, every one of which rep- 
resented a citation for bravery. When he 
reached the fourth, he told the following 
story, which in its essential part was pub- 
lished in the Evening Bulletin in its issue 
of November 10, 1917, where it was read 
by thousands of people on that evening: — 

It was a year before, at Verdun, on the 
4th of September, 1916, in the fight for 
Souville, that, having received orders to 
go forth with his battalion of- two hundred 
and fifty men to hold the fort against an 
expected German attack, he went over 
the top. Upon arrival at their objective, 



viii INTRODUCTION 

the men were surprised to find it lifeless. 
On penetrating it they discovered that it 
had been occupied by the Germans the 
night before, but that the tremendous 
sheUing of the French batteries had de- 
stroyed the occupants. None but dead 
Germans were found there. 

The French battahon then passed to 
Bois-Chapitre, a short distance, which, 
the attack having come on, they held 
against the Germans' violent onslaught. 
Their numbers, however, from two hun- 
dred and fifty were reduced to forty valid, 
unwounded fighters. But the attack was 
repulsed. All officers had been either 
killed or wounded. No medical help was 
at hand. Lieutenant Froument could not 
stand: both legs had been damaged — 
three splinters having struck his right leg 
while seven had seriously crippled his left. 
This had occurred at four o'clock in the 
afternoon. His captain, wounded in the 



INTRODUCTION ix 

head, had lost an eye and was suffering 
acutely. One of the men suggested that if 
the badly wounded men could manage to 
drag themselves to a certain road a mile 
or so distant, he thought that they might 
be picked up by some American ambu- 
lance, should one pass empty, as that was 
one of their routes on duty. 

It was nine-thirty, however, when the 
wounded men — the two oflBcers, a badly 
hurt sergeant, and two seriously wounded 
men — were dragged over the distance 
that separated them from that road, on 
the forlorn chance, and placed literally 
with their backs to the wall of a ruined 
fort, to await such developments as fate 
might send them. The road was then 
under shell fire. 

When asked how long they had waited. 
Lieutenant Froument smiled a weary 
smile. "At such times, moments seem 
hours. I could not tell you. I was past 



X INTRODUCTION 

taking note of time. It seemed years to 
us." The road was being shelled, and the 
helpless men's feelings cannot well be 
described. Finally, an American ambu- 
lance hove in sight. As it approached the 
men hailed the driver. He stopped and 
came to them. He was business-like and 
cool. Fortunately his ambulance was 
empty. He carefully loaded the five men 
into his car, said Lieutenant Froument, 
'*as deliberately as though he had been in 
his own house, although the shells were 
bursting around the spot." Indeed, quiet 
speaker as the Lieutenant seemed to be 
by nature, he rose to something very near 
enthusiasm as he later described the inci- 
dent. He had spoken to the American and 
had found that he was a Philadelphian. 
He wished to see him, if he had returned, 
to thank him for what he had done. He 
wanted to shake him by the hand, for he 
was a brave man. 



INTRODUCTION xi 

One may well understand his feelings 
of relief and what this thing meant to him 
and his comrades. But it gives one a real- 
izing sense of the work of these young men. 
To them, such tasks are all in the day's 
work. In his two years of service this man 
had picked up hundreds of similar cases; 
but to each man who was picked up, it 
might mean his life. 

Well, the five men and the ''ambu- 
lancier" reached the '*poste de secours" 
at Dugny, near Fort Marceau, and the 
driver went his useful way. Lieutenant 
Froument was three months in a hospital 
before he was about again. A long period 
of convalescence followed before he was 
sent to this country to become a member 
of the Bureau of Information at Wash- 
ington. 

Meantime, thousands of people in 
Philadelphia had read his story as cur- 
sorily given in the paper, and among those 



xii INTRODUCTION 

thousands was a friend of Lieutenant 
Stevenson, to whose mind it seemed fa- 
mihar. Turning to At the Front in a 
Flivver the entries for the beginning of 
September were referred to, and sure 
enough, under date of September 6, 1916, 
the following entry was found: "One man 
I carried by the way, asked me where I 
came from, and I answered, 'America/ 
He said, 'I know; but what city?' I said, 
'Philadelphia.' 'Thought so,' he said. 
'I lived for years at Thirteenth and Pine 
Streets, and taught in the Berlitz School 
there!'" 

After calling up the Berlitz School to 
verify the correctness of these facts and 
finding that Lieutenant Froument had 
taught several years in that institution, 
from which he had retired in 1914, the 
friend in question wrote to that oflBcer 
and arranged for an interview with the 
family, which took place on Christmas 



INTRODUCTION xiu 

Eve, 1917, in which most of the above 
details were obtained. As he left the 
house. Lieutenant Froument said that 
ever since that day he had tried to meet 
his friend-in-need and he asked Mr. 
Stevenson's friends when they wrote: 
" Please tell him that I have tried to thank 
him for what he did. It was our duty to 
defend our country to the last man; but it 
was not his. He and those who like him 
came over from this side, leaving every 
comfort, went into that hell to help us — 
that was magnificent. Please write to 
him that I came to thank him." 

After the great battle of which the 
above is but an infinitesimal personal epi- 
sode, the volunteer "ambulancier" had 
returned on leave to spend Christmas with 
his family. His intention was to return 
on February 1, but having met with an 
automobile accident in which he was 



xiv INTRODUCTION 

hurt, it was only toward the end of March 
that he finally sailed on the Espagne, to 
return to his work. Soon after his arrival 
on the other side, the United States at 
last proclaimed war on Germany. This 
at once altered every one's attitude in 
France toward this country — a change 
which our author was quick to perceive 
upon his return. It also greatly altered 
the situation of the volunteer ambulance 
service. 

As Mr. Henry Davis Sleeper, the able 
administrative officer of the American 
Ambulance Field Service, and its repre- 
sentative in the United States, has so well 
put it in a report issued in the winter of 
1918, in which an account of his steward- 
ship is given : — 

"During the present period of our tran- 
sition, in justice to those who have given 
themselves so unsparingly to this work, 
there could have been no other policy than 



INTRODUCTION xv 

for us to have offered as prompt and com- 
plete cooperation as possible to the United 
States Army Ambulance of which we are 
to become a part, and which has to accom- 
plish in so few months so great a task. If 
we cannot, perhaps, wholly repress a sense 
of regret in having to yield all rights of 
administration, and the personal satisfac- 
tion which an intimate knowledge of each 
day's achievement in such work as this 
means, it is compensation to remember 
that the Americans whose courage and 
energy these past three years have made 
so fine a record in France, and those of 
us here whose privilege it has been to 
stand behind them, are now able to turn 
over to our own army at one of the great- 
est moments of need in its history, so 
useful an organization." 

Under these conditions, it was impos- 
sible that the transition stage from the 
volunteer system to that of the regular 



xvi INTRODUCTION 

army should have been accomplished 
without some difficulty. There was per- 
haps no man in the service who felt the 
change more keenly than did the author 
of the present book. 

When he returned to France in April, 
1917, there already were rumors of plans 
and adjustments by which the service 
was to be passed over to the United States 
Army. This created an uneasiness among 
the boys which manifested itself in an 
effort to forestall the event by personally 
changing into other arms. Aviation exer- 
cised upon all an irresistible fascination, 
and all who could qualify passed from the 
Ambulance Service into aircraft. Next to 
flying, the artillery was the most popular. 
The necessary increase of the Transporta- 
tion Service, in which the French authori- 
ties requested the assistance of Major A. 
Piatt Andrew, also created unrest, as the 
former " ambulanciers " were offered in- 



INTRODUCTION xvii 

ducements to enter that service, the least 
popular though the most indispensable of 
the various services that go to form the 
efficiency of an army. 

Taking it altogether, the summer and 
autumn of 1917, preceding as they did 
the final elimination of the wonderful 
volunteer organization known as the 
American Ambulance Field Service in 
the creation and support of which so 
many prominent people had taken a cred- 
itable part, — none so honorable, however, 
as the young drivers themselves, who had 
kept up the traditions of the founders 
of this great commonwealth in going for- 
ward at the crucial hour to assist France, 
the France of Lafayette, of de Grasse, the 
France of Franklin, — was a period of 
considerable unrest among the boys and 
of anxiety to their officers. 

In the forthcoming pages, Lieutenant 
Stevenson throws side-lights upon the 



xviii INTRODUCTION 

feelings of the college lads who, at that 
time, largely constituted the personnel of 
the corps. He, also, in one of his conver- 
sations with an intelligent French officer,^ 
shows of what importance to France 
thinking Frenchmen thought the Ambu- 
lance Field Service over and beyond its 
concrete usefulness to the sanitary de- 
partment in providing intelligent carriers. 
This importance lay in the interest which 
their presence in France created in her 
struggle among the men's friends and rela- 
tives in the United States. Whole com- 
munities took pride in their action. Whole 
colleges and universities had their atten- 
tion directed toward the questions in- 
volved in the war by the fact that their 
graduates had gone into the melee, and 
through their letters these became un- 
conscious propagandists of the truth and 
the greatness of the cause. When the boys 

1 See pp. Ill, 112. 



INTRODUCTION xix 

won distinction, their alma mater, their 
home town, the newspapers of the various 
locaUties burst into acclaim, in which the 
cause for which they had toiled so bravely 
was extolled, while other young men, fired 
with enthusiasm by their example, en- 
listed in the hope of doing as well. Thus 
was daily increased the subtle influence 
that was gradually strengthening the 
love of France among the generous young 
manhood of America, and through the 
young manhood, among all who were 
connected with it. 

While Lieutenant Stevenson had from 
the beginning hoped to go into aviation 
— I believe that he tried four times to do 
so, but was rejected owing to imperfect 
sight — he did what he could loyally to 
promote the interests of the Service, when 
the final adjustments were made for the 
elimination of the volunteer American 
Ambulance Field Service, and its merger 



XX INTRODUCTION 

into the American Army. Of course, the 
change was more than a mere signing into 
the Army. The boys under the volunteer 
system had felt that they were, so to 
speak, a sort of club or fraternity, whose 
headquarters were at 21 Rue Raynouard. 
Of course there was a certain amount of 
discipline. That is, when they went too 
far, they usually were quietly sent back to 
Paris. But every one evidently wished to 
be easy with them. This appears clearly 
through the pages of the present book. 
There was a camaraderie between officers 
and men which found expression in a 
fellow-feeling when things happened, dis- 
turbing to a proper conduct of the work. 
All this made the transition somewhat 
difficult, and still more irksome was the 
constant need for reporting and record- 
ing which was required of the command- 
ing officer — and which we call red tape. 
But while these things were realized they 



INTRODUCTION xxi 

were accepted and acted upon with regu- 
larity. 

Before the passing away of the Ameri- 
can volunteer took place finally, on Janu- 
ary 1, 1918, however. Section No. 1 was 
privileged to see some glorious days, not 
only in Champagne, at Craonne, at the 
Chemin des Dames, Route 44; but at 
Verdun, Hill 304, and Douaumont, and 
other points, now famous, durmg the 
great French victory of August-Septem- 
ber, 1917, when for the fourth time the 
"Section Solitaire" was cited, this time 
before the Army, an honor which added 
the palm to the Croix de Guerre on its 
Section flag, as well as to that worn by 
its French and American commanders. 

Meantime, while going through the 
horrors of this wonderful war, as well as 
through its excitements, the *'ambulan- 
cier's" life, as presented by Lieutenant 
Stevenson, was not without its charm for 



xxii INTRODUCTION 

men who were good sports and who loved 
life in the open. It is largely this spirit 
which pervades Lieutenant's Stevenson's 
writings, as well as his sense of humor, 
that makes his books good reading. He 
deals with the gruesome side of war, as 
he does in his appreciation of the Boche 
character, with an easy philosophy that 
has all the merit of originality. One 
understands what he thinks, but he does 
not quite say it. And that is restful in 
these days of penny-dreadfuls. 

The Editor 



CONTENTS 

Part I 

March to July, 1917 

I. Return to the Front .... 3 

II. Craonne — Berry-au-Bac ... 17 

III. America to the Rescue . . .51 

IV. The Death Roll 58 

V. Officer and Chief of Section 1 . 79 

Part II 
July to October, 1917 

VI. Immortal Verdun 107 

VII. Six Weeks under Fire — Heroic 

Endurance 128 

VIII. Section 1 earns Army Citation and 

the Palm 163 

Part III 

IX. DOMREMY AND VaUCOULEURS — RE- 
WARDS 179 

Note 206 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Jeanne d'Arc and the Cathedral at 
Rheims Frontispiece 

Russians at Chateau de Bellemont, 1917 20 

Section 1 and its Flag at Muizon, with 
A. Piatt Andrew 28^ 

Benjamin R. Woodworth, Paul Kurtz, 
AND J. M. Sponagle at Rheims, with 
Sh ell-Hole of a 380 32 

The Author and the New French Lieu- 
tenant OF Section 1, James Reymond . 36, 

Waking him up: Baylies, Sponagle, and 
Stevenson 56 

Gamble, Stevenson, Patterson, and Wood- 
worth (holding the Mascot "Rheims") 64 

Raoul Lufbery 68 

From a sketch in oils by Lieutenant Farre 

Stevenson, Edward Townsend, and Philip 
S. Rice 84 

The Ludes "Poste," where Norton was 
KILLED 94 

A Bungalow near Souville . . . .122 



xxvi ILLUSTRATIONS 

Caserne Marceau 122 - 

Typical French Camouflage, with the 
Section 1 Staff Car and Sponagle, 
Wood WORTH, and Stevenson . . . 134 ' 

A Shrapnel Explosion 144 

The Once Village of Fleury . . .162 

Abri near Chaulnes Wood, with Tardieu's 
Indian-Head Sign 200 

At Meaux 206 







ACTA 




ANENT 



151^ - 191/. 



FROM " POILU " TO " YANK ' 
PART I 

March to July, 1917 

The Boy- Volunteers 

The Driving Back of the Germans 

Champagne — Rheims, Craonne 

Chemin des Dames, Route 44 

Battles on the Aisne 



FROM "POILU" TO "YANK" 
CHAPTER I 

RETURN TO THE FRONT 

We heard the deep vibrations of a bell. 

The Tongue of Fate that, tolling on the blast. 

Repeated o'er and o'er 

"Awake! your horoscope is cast; 

The Old World and the New shall live apart no more. 

Awake! the Future claims you." ^ , ^ 

John Jay Chapman 

After waiting three days in New York, 
where, by the way, I had a wonderful time 
with friends, I sailed on the Espagne at 
three o'clock on March 26 — a glorious 
afternoon. 

There was quite a crowd on board — 
among them Dr. Alexis Carrel, the famous, 
whom I found a very pleasant-spoken 
sort of chap. On the next day, I ran across 
Charley Clark ^ who is going back to work 

^ Charles Motley Clark, of Philadelphia, son of the 
late Clarence H. Clark and his wife, who was Miss 
Motley of Boston, a niece of the historian of the Nether- 
lands. 



4 FROM POILU TO YANK 

in the Harjes-Norton Section with six or 
seven others. The last time I saw him it 
was back of Verdun by the Hght of a lan- 
tern. Before that, we had n't met for ten 
years. 

Gradually, I am getting to know the 
twenty boys of whom I was put in charge 
by Hereford. Most of them are extremely 
young, but, on the whole, they are a de- 
cent lot, and they'll soon get the range of 
life over there. There are three aviators 
on board, one of whom, Zinn by name, 
was in the Foreign Legion. He was 
wounded, and got transferred to the Avi- 
ation Service. The others are American 
Army aviators who are going to study 
French methods. 

Of course, we have the customary Ger- 
man raider scares. We had one this after- 
noon — it turned out to be a Dutchman. 

On the third day out, I ran across Miss 
Harriman, with whom I crossed before 



RETURN TO THE FRONT 5 

on the Rochambeau. She says that she 
couldn't stand the United States, and 
simply had to come back. She is working 
in the Societe des Dames de France and 
she is thinking of making her home in 
France. 

On March 30 we had a scream of a 
night! A blessed fool by the name of 
Brown got some of the boys together and 
insisted on my getting up a meeting of the 
Norton-Harjes and the American Ambu- 
lance Field Service men, and to have them 
addressed by Drs. Carrel and Powers.^ 
Then, out of a simple conference, the news 
spread, and the whole ship turned up in 
the smoking-room, and / had to introduce 
the speakers! Then, as if that were not 
more than enough, they called on me to 
give a talk on the field work. But I 
dodged that, and they made Charley 
Clark talk. After which they called on me 

2 Dr. Powers, of the American Red Cross. 



6 FROM POILU TO YANK 

again. But I only said a few words of 
thanks to the previous speakers. It was 
an awful bore, but the thing seems to have 
made quite a hit. The funny part of it to 
me is that I was a sort of master of cere- 
monies to the great Alexis Carrel, of all 
people in the world. 

April 1. We went through boat drill, 
life-preservers, and the rest. Also, we had 
an auction this evening. The son of one 
of the owners of the line, Ducrot by name, 
was auctioneer and did it very well. He 
netted about three thousand francs for 
practically nothing. 

I had an interesting talk with Have- 
meyer, who is taking charge of the Paris 
end of the Norton-Harjes Ambulance. 
They are going to standardize their cars 
on the American Ambulance system — 
Fiats and Fords. 

A patrol boat came close to us to-day 
(April 4) and evidently gave us instruc- 



RETURN TO THE FRONT 7 

tions. We are now in the War Zone. We 
should sight land to-morrow. 

I met Dr. Reese, who is going over to 
take charge of a hospital near Bordeaux 
for the French War Relief Committee of 
the Emergency Aid of Pennsylvania. He 
was in London at the time of the first 
Zepp raid. Then he went as ship doctor 
on an English transport, taking troops 
from Australia to Gallipoli, Egypt, South 
Africa, and Salonica. In the doing, he got 
chased by submarines, was wrecked on 
the coast of Africa, etc. A most interest- 
ing companion, for, besides all this, he is 
one of the few survivors of the "First 
100,000." And now he is going to Beau- 
mont-du-Perigord ! ^ 

^ Dr. Reese has made a fine record for himself at the 
hospital and in a wide radius of the neighborhood, where 
his name is blessed by the inhabitants. The hospital is 
rmi by the Delpit family, one of whose daughters teaches 
in Smith College, and another at Bryn Mawr, where 
they have many friends who help them in their fine 
work. (Editor.) , 



8 FROM POILU TO YANK 

April 5, Arrived at Bordeaux at noon 
with my twenty recruits, having seen 
no warships whatever all the way over: 
only one patrol boat. I dined with 
Charley Clark and Frauntz, and took the 
ten o'clock evening train for Paris with 
Havemeyer, of Harjes-Norton. 

I left my men in charge of Clark, who 
had to stay over to get his Packard oflf 
the boat and put it together. The inno- 
cent lamb had cut the chassis in half, be- 
cause they told him that the cranes at 
Bordeaux could not lift it off the ship as 
a whole. Now, he's got to have it joined 
together. I suggested hinges, so he could 
go around corners like a snake. It turns 
out that the cranes here handle up to 
five thousand pounds! Old Charley is 
certainly sore. 

April 6. I went to Henry's, where I 
met Ned Townsend, who told me that 
"Woodworth" has superseded in 



RETURN TO THE FRONT 9 

charge of Section 1. apparently did 

n't size up and Lieutenant de Kersauson 
de Pennendreff got Andrew to recall him. 
I called at the Rue Raynouard and saw 
Mason and Arboter, chiefs of Sections 8 
and 2 respectively. They are returning to 
the States. Piatt Andrew, Galatti, and 
Cartier seemed delighted to see me and 
said many nice things. Also Ewell. The 
boys of Section 1 have arranged for me to 
come right up, keeping a place vacant for 
me. So I leave with Ned Townsend on 
Saturday for Bar-le-Duc. The Section is 
"en repos" at Vadelaincourt. Took din- 
ner at Maxim's and afterwards went to 
the Folies Bergeres. 

April 7. Dined with Persons, Fred 
Dawson, Ned Townsend, Waldo Peirce,i 
and Webster. We went to the Olympia 
afterward and had quite a time. Waldo 

^ From Bangor, Maine, graduate of Harvard, mem- 
ber of S.S.U. 3. 



10 FROM POILU TO YANK 

is as funny as ever. He has gone back to 
his art work. Dawson has gone into some 
sort of diplomatic service, and was just 
back from Egypt. 

War is declared at last! Andrew, how- 
ever, says that the Ambulance Service 
will continue and probably will be taken 
over by the American Army, if an expe- 
ditionary force is sent. Of course, there is 
a remarkable difference in the attitude 
of the French toward the Americans. At 
last we are treated like human beings. 
American flags are flying all over Paris. 

Arrived at Bar-le-Duc with Ned Town- 
send at 5 P.M. Every sort of courtesy was 
shown us. The gate man hardly looked 
at our tickets. They even passed our 
luggage free. We leave on the postal 
wagon to-morrow, as we are no longer 
allowed to run into Bar-le-Duc to get our 
men, on account of shortage of essence. 

April 10. I spent Easter at Vadelain- 



RETURN TO THE FRONT 11 

court. Woody/ Sponny,^ Kurtz/ and the 
"Loot " ^ fell on my neck. We had a triple 
celebration for Easter, the war, and my 
return! The "Loot" opened wine. Later, 
the French aviators and mechanics joined 
us with more wine — we had quite a time. 
The French contingent of Section 1 read 
us a regularly prepared speech welcoming 
us as allies. We did not expect this, so 
after some argument, I was made to get 
up and answer. 

Last night, the 9th, the Boches made 
an air raid on us, dropped bombs, but did 
no damage. The mitrailleuse would n't 

^ Benjamin Woodworth, of California and German- 
town, Philadelphia; killed in Champagne. See page 67 
et seq. 

* James M. Sponagle, of Gloucester, Massachusetts. 
He is now First Lieutenant in charge of Section 622 
(old 65). 

2 Paul B. Kurtz, of Germantown, Philadelphia. Killed 
in May, 1918, having left the Ambulance Service to 
enter Aviation. 

^ Lieutenant Marquis Robert de Kersauson de Pen- 
nendreff. See At the Front in a Flivver, p. 59, et seq. 



12 FROM POILU TO YANK 

work, so we contented ourselves with 
firing rockets at the planes ! 

One of the men who took the places of 
Walker, Wallace, Culbertson, Tison, and 
me in December last, was fired for getting 
drunk. 

April 12. We are moving to-day to 
Dombasle and take over Section 12's job 
in the Mort-Homme-304 Sector, where 
Kelly, of Philadelphia, was killed last 
September. Our Section was there in 
February and had a beast of a time, the 
thermometer being below zero and the 
roads almost impassable from snowdrifts. 
So many cars were out of commission, 
owing to the inexperience of the new men, 
that not a single citation was given, al- 
though the work was almost as severe as 
it was on the right bank at the time of the 
battle of Fleury and Souville.^ 

^ The Section received a belated citation eventually, 
however. (See infra, page 37.) Also Messrs. Wood- 



RETURN TO THE FRONT 13 

An aviator was describing to me to-day 
the new anti-Zeppelin flame bombs. They 
can make a curtain of fire in the air, now, 
alternating with shrapnel. This was how 
the Zepp was brought down a month or so 
ago. The new aeroplane bombs, too, are 
wonders. They carry as much explosive 
as a "420" and only weigh fifty-six kilos. 
He tells me that most of the attacking 
squadrons have left Verdun, and are now 
grouped around the Champagne district 
and to the north, as indeed are the picked 
French troops. 

There are a great many more Portu- 
guese about, some two hundred thousand, 
it is said. 

April 13. I took No. 5 over to Dom- 
basle, then came back and took over No. 
17, as their drivers were on "permission." 

worth, Hibbard, Kurtz, and Townsend got a citation 
for their wmter's work around Hill 304, (See infra, 
page 41.) 



14 FROM POILU TO YANK 

After noon word came that Ned Town- 
send had broken a rear axle at Esnes, close 
to Hill 304. So I was ordered to take No. 
18, my new car, with "Eddy" Sponagle 
to fix it. We passed the place where Kelly 
was killed and Sanders was so badly 
wounded, and saw the famous Mort- 
Homme. We were in plain sight of the 
Germans about one thousand yards away. 
They were lobbing " 105's" over our heads 
into the Bois d'Avocourt. Then we came 
in sight of Hill 304 and found Ned. It 
took us about two hours to fix him, but 
the Boches let us alone. We got back at 
about 7 P.M. for a cold supper. 

I spent this morning tuning up No. 18. 
In the afternoon General Herr, the Com- 
mander of the Sixteenth Corps d'Armee, 
inspected us. We were introduced to him 
individually and he said some very com- 
plimentary things, remarking that with 
the entry of America into the war "the 



RETURN TO THE FRONT 15 

combat would be shortened." He pro- 
phesied that great things shortly would 
be doing. Amen, I say. 

The "Loot" announced that we were 
leaving the Verdun Sector and the Second 
Army in a few days to get into the great 
battle now beginning in Champagne. 
Fine! ~ 

General Herr was formerly in command 
of the Sixth Army around Verdun, when 
the Boches began their historic attack in 
February, 1916. It is said that he disre- 
garded the warnings of the aviators and 
failed to take sufficient defensive meas- 
ures. He was recalled to the rear, and 
only recently has he been given important 
commands again — first of a division, and 
later of the army corps he now commands. 

April 14. Section 15 arrived this morn- 
ing. We moved this afternoon. Our first 
scheduled stop is at Chalons. We are to 
join the Fifth Army somewhere near 



16 FROM POILU TO YANK 

Epernay. Flynn ^ took Lidden of the new 
Section to the Esnes "poste." On their 
way, at the bad corner, two shells dropped 
right close to them on the road, leaving 
several big holes in the car and ripping the 
whole back out of Lidden's coat! Surely 
a remarkable escape, and "some" experi- 
ence for a brand-new man on his first 
appearance on the firing line. He had to 
remain at the "poste" for twenty-four 
hours, too! 

^ Robin Jay Flynn, California; now in the Canadian 
Artillery. 



CHAPTER II 

CRAONNE — BERRY-AU-BAC 

There was a Vale of Peace I knew and there. 

Where lustful breezes paid a dangerous court 

To flowered beauties and kindred sort. 

Where poppies bent their flaming heads and rare . . . 

did sweet dreams abound. 

Came Discord, of a day, and Iron Wrath 
Strewing Destruction vast along its path . . . 
A man-made earthquake, by a mad-man willed 
And shattered all my Vale of Peace and killed 
Our flowers . . . 

E. M., S.S.U. 2 
American Field Service Bulletin, August 3, 1918 

April 15. I made a quick trip from 
Dombasle to Chalons and slept there last 
night. We had quite a party in the morn- 
ing with Hibben, Stockwell,^ Kurtz, 
Woodworth, and Sponagle. I left Chalons 
this morning, lunched in the woods, and 
reached the outskirts of Epernay this 
afternoon — a village called Vaudancourt. 

^ Roy Stockwell is now Lieutenant in the Field Artil- 
lery Service, A.E.F. 



18 FROM POILU TO YANK 

There is here a bully sixteenth-century 
chateau. Everywhere we are greeted with 
enthusiasm, now. 

We are quartered at a small champagne 
grower's place. He sells us the finest vin- 
tage for four francs a bottle; it is the sort 
of stuff he sells to Pol Roger and to Pom- 
mery for eight hundred francs for two 
hundred and sixty bottles. He says the 
best recent vintages are those of 1904 and 
1906, and that they are almost as fine as 
the famous 1893. The 1905 vintage also is 
very good but scarce, as everybody drank 
it ''ad libitum," owing to the uncertain- 
ties of the war. The Boches also, I regret 
to say, took away a good deal. Wliat a 
waste of good stuflF! 

April 16. The French attacked Sois- 
sons this morning with one hundred and 
forty-eight tanks. The big Champagne 
offensive, for which artillery preparation 
has been in progress for the last week, is 



CRAONNE — BERRY-AU-BAC 19 

on. To-night, fifty more tanks are to 
attack south of Soissons. We are still 
awaiting orders. 

Wood worth, Kurtz, Stoekwell, and I 
went into Epernay for a bath this after- 
noon. Two new men have joined us and 
three "permissionnaires" have returned. 

One of the new men is a second M , but 

may develop. The other seems to be a 
good "scout" and quiet. The bunch, as a 
whole, looks a good deal better than some 
of the letters I had received implied. 

April 17. We have left Epernay. The 
call came at 4 a.m. and we started at once. 
We passed through Rheims at 9 a.m. and 
proceeded toward Soissons.^ We saw a 
good many Russians, who still seem to be 
here in considerable numbers. Last night's 
attack was very successful. Seven thou- 
sand prisoners were taken. The Rus- 

^ Just one year later — March 21-31, 1918 — the 
Germans rolled over the identical ground. 



20 FROM POILU TO YANK 

sian troops figured in it as well as the 
French. 

Our orders came to roll at 7 p.m. and 
the whole Section went out. We handled 
the wounded from Berry-au-Bac and 
Craonne.^ There was heavy fighting and 
heavy losses. The Russians suffered 
severely, but notable progress was made, 
and some fourteen thousand prisoners 
were taken. 

The receiving hospital is far to the rear; 
the traflSc congestion was frightful. The 
roads were scarcely fit to move over. 
Nearly all the cars got lost or ditched at 
some time or other during the night, but 
nevertheless all, save Orton, got back all 
right. He broke his steering-gear. 

I was ditched once, but got out again 
with the aid of a passing ''camion." The 

* The very ground that was re-invaded by the Ger- 
mans and heroically fought for again by the Allies, re- 
inforced by the Americans, in the spring and summer 
of 1918. 




Ci 

H 
O 



H 

a 
u 

< 
1—4 



CRAONNE — BERRY-AU-BAC 21 

hospital was so full that we had to wait 
four and five hours before the cars could 
be unloaded, and the wounded, naturally, 
suffered terribly. As usual, it rained and 
it was also very cold. I got back at seven 
in the morning to our headquarters at 
Muizon. 

These quarters are quite comfortable. 
They are in a handsome chateau which 
dates back to 1658. We share it with a 
battery of auto-cannon. There are a 
bunch of *'370's" and "400's" around us, 
and the explosions shake even the two- 
foot walls of the chateau. There also are 
many heavy guns mounted on cars along 
the railway line. 

April 18. Orders came this afternoon 
that we were to roll again to-night. For- 
tunately I had some sleep to-day. My 
gear-bands were pretty nearly worn out 
last night, shifting them so continuously 
in the heavy traffic. I doubt if they will 



22 FROM POILU TO YANK 

last through to-night. They will have to 
be changed to-morrow at all events. The 
attack is still on despite the rain. 

April 19. Such a hectic night! I carried 
Russians from Chalons to Antilly. There 
I found that the place was full. After a 
long argument, I managed to get rid of 
them, however. They lost three thousand 
wounded and six hundred killed out of ten 
thousand ! 

When I got back and had gone to bed, 
a sudden influx of Russians going into 
"repos" turned up, and we were all forced 
to double up! The place is just jammed 
with them. The stench is something 
fearful and they are covered with lice! 
It is awful! The whole place now is in 
a mess. 

After they had been bedded down, 
around one o'clock in the morning, and 
we had all gone to sleep again, the gas 
alarm sounded and everybody had to 



CRAONNE -BERRY-AU-BAC 23 

hustle out and get his mask. As usual, it 
was a false alarm and we turned in once 
more. 

At about five o'clock we were awak- 
ened again, this time by bombs falling 
around the town. Two Boche aviators 
were trying for the railway. They finally 
were driven off. 

The Russians, of course, steal every- 
thing they can lay their hands on. I've 
already lost my shaving-soap and glass. 
Many have self-inflicted wounds on feet 
and hands in a vain attempt to avoid war 
duty. I hope to God that they may be 
sent farther to the rear. Their front-line 
positions have been taken over by the 
French. 

April '^0, An interesting day. The 
"Loot" took Woody, Kurtz, and me to 
inspect possible advance posts. We had a 
splendid view of the opposing lines in 
front of Rheims and the famous Fort 



24 FROM POILU TO YANK 

Brimont, which is still holding out.^ The 
French have practically surrounded it and 
the huge "320's" and "400's" are falling 
on it steadily. The Russian^ having failed 
to take it, their divisions are being brought 
back, and the Chasseurs Alpins, the best 
troops the French have, are going to 
attack. We saw the shifting going on, 
the roads being blocked with troops and 
artillery. 

They say that General Michelet, in 
charge of the first operations, has been 
blamed for their failure, and has been 
demoted to a minor sector. At present 
cavalry is blocking the roads — the first 
time I have seen any great amount of it 
in the two years I have fussed around the 
Front. The horses are splendid. The men 
are equipped with lances as well as with 
rifles. 

^ This is where, in the spring of 1918, centered a 
tremendous stand by the French in their retreat. 



CRAONNE ~ BERRY-AU-BAC 25 

X , a comparatively new man of 

rather surly disposition and most unpop- 
ular, was fired by the "Loot" to-day. He 
got "fresh" with the "Loot" and the 
latter had just been waiting for a chance 
to remove him. So he left on the postal 

wagon. I also understand that L has 

been eased out — ■ not exactly "fired," but 
that, having gone down on "permission," 
he will not be allowed to return. He was 
harmless, but awfully dull. A new man 
has arrived by the name of Stout ^ who 
seems to be a good sort. Victor White's 
brother also has joined us. He is very 
much like "Vic" in mannerisms and 
general looks — quite an "air de famille," 
as our French allies would put it. 

April 24. I went into Rheims with a 
man who owns a good deal of real estate 
in and around the town. He found that 

1 Richard Stout has entered the Aviation Service. 
(Editor.) 



26 FROM POILU TO YANK 

one of his block of houses had been burned 
and another had been badly damaged by- 
shells. There are still about four thousand 
civilians who linger, as against an ante- 
bellum population of seventeen thousand. 
Nevertheless, market was going on as 
usual, and, as the shells were coming in 
at three minutes' intervals, the civilians 
with their baskets would gauge their 
movements accordingly, running from 
cellar to cellar like prairie dogs. One man 
with a long beard was particularly funny. 
He popped out of a cellar, galloped to a 
post-box, mailed a letter, and scurried 
back, his beard streaming in the wind. 
Three dead horses were lying at the corner 
of the square where the Cathedral stands, 
and the shells were landing there steadily 
— ''220's." The Jeanne d'Arc statue is 
still uninjured. But the Cathedral is 
slowly being chipped to pieces. 
A Boche "saucisse" broke loose this 



CRAONNE ~ BERRY-AU-BAC 2T 

morning and came right over our camp. 
The anti-Zepp battery beside us failed to 
hit it, but three planes went up and set it 
on fire, and it fell, a mass of flames, not 
more than a couple of miles away. 

The "Loot" is dissatisfied with our 
present connections — or lack of them, 
rather, as we seem to be unattached to 
anything just now. He is trying to get us 
transferred again, this time to the Sixth 
Army near Fismes, where he knows a good 
many of the authorities. 

April 27. While in Rheims the other 
day, Woody, Kurtz, Sponagle, and I 
picked up a little fox terrier pup for a 
mascot. We matched to see who should 
be the permanent owner, and Kurtz won. 
We call him "Rheims." . 

The Germans shelled the railway all 
day yesterday. One shell landed on a 
passing cart and killed five civilians. The 
railway station-master's wife also was 



28 FROM POILU TO YANK 

badly injured. A Zeppelin went over last 
night at about one o'clock and dropped 
five bombs. I did n't even wake up ! — 
but was told about it this morning. 

April 29. This was an interesting day. 
Word came that A. Piatt Andrew was to 
be decorated with the Legion of Honor. 
General Ragueneau, General Nivelle's 
second, the head of the entire Automobile 
Service, and so many other ''stripers" 
that it reminded one of Sing-Sing, turned 
up. The cars were formed in a square in 
the chateau's courtyard, and some two 
hundred troops formed a square in front 
of them. 

Section 1 had been selected as being the 
oldest Section in the Service, and An- 
drew's own Section besides. The day was 
perfect; Andrew arrived and presented us 
with our new Section flag, with the Croix 
twice starred on it, and the names of 
the battles in which we had served: Dun- 




o 

<3 ^ 



CRAONNE — BERRY-AU-BAC 29 

kirk, Ypres, Verdun, Somme, Argonne, 
Aisne, Champagne — some eight or ten 
names. ^ 

We were introduced to the General, 
individually; and, after his speech, some 
of the older men were invited in to drink 
the health of France and the United 
States: Sponagle, Woodworth, Kurtz, 
Stockwell, and I were chosen. As it hap- 
pened, the big guns were roaring straight 
ahead, behind and in front of us. In addi- 
tion, Boche aviators chose the moment to 
drop bombs on Muizon (our town), and 
the anti-aircraft batteries were going full 
tilt. One bomb fell into the Vesle right 
near our tent. We had been swimming in 
the stream but a short time before. It was 
a splendid " mise-en-scene " for such a 
military ceremony. 

Andrew incidentally asked Kurtz and 

^ The Section Flag carried three stars and one pahu 
at the end of the season. {Editor.) 



so FROM POILU TO YANK 

me to agree to be Section chiefs if he 
needed us. We acquiesced rather from a 
sense of duty than from any real desire, 
as it means a sacrifice of personal liberty. 
I asked to be allowed to stay for a month 
or two, and our "Loot" also kicked like a 
steer. So Kurtz and I go down next week 
and I am not to be called till June. An- 
drew also says that, if all goes well, we may 
get commissions in the American Trans- 
port Service which he is forming. He ex- 
pects to get, and the French Government 
has asked for, ten thousand "camion" 
drivers as the most useful immediate aid 
tHe United States can give, and those of us 
who talk more or less French and have 
had experience will be called upon to fur- 
nish material for minor ofEcerships. 

Too bad that our third citation could 
n't be "pulled off" with the big cere- 
mony. As it was, seven minor French of- 
ficers were decorated with the Croix de 



CRAONNE - BERRY-AU-BAC 31 

Guerre after Andrew's Legion d'Honneur 
award was given. 

April 30. We heard this morning, not 
without grim amusement, that one of the 
German bombing machines, by mistake, 
had dropped a big one right on the prison 
camp not far from here, and thus killed 
or injured some fifty of their own citizens 
last night! A case of taking their own 
medicine, all right! 

We had quite an excitement after 
luncheon. An enemy aviator came over 
and got four *'saucisses" in succession 
right in front of us. Some of the observers 
got away in parachutes ; but a couple were 
followed down by the blazing balloons, 
and, I fear, killed, as there was little or no 
wind. The " Germ," apparently, got away 
untouched, although every gun in sight 
was firing at him. 

May 1. Kurtz leaves to-day to take 
charge of the new Section 18, known as 



32 FROM POELU TO YANK 

the Cornell Section. Everybody is sorry 
to lose him. He was a first-rate worker 
and a good comrade. A new man, by the 
name of Patterson, has arrived. He was 
on the Penn Squad for three months, and 
got transferred. 

Ned Townsend, Woodworth, and I saw 
" Kurtzy " off at Epernay. We ''kidded" 
him about the Boche aviator who came 
down close to the ground and wiped out 
the company of Zouaves with his machine 
gun, yesterday afternoon, by the same 
train. I tried to get a bath at Epernay, 
but all the attendants were upset because 
of the bombs dropped on the gas plant 
and the cafe last night. There was quite 
a fire afterward. No baths for us until 
too late this afternoon to enable us to get 
back to Muizon in time for dinner. 

May 3. Lieutenant de Kersauson de 
Pennendreff — otherwise known as the 
"Loot" — and I took a long walk and 










*^\- 






- .;.^'^*. 



*^ 




BENJAMIN R. WOOD WORTH (left), PAUL KURTZ (center), 
AND J. M. SPONAGLE (right) AT RHEIMS 

Woodworth is in the shell-hole of a 380. A corner of the Cathedral 
shows at the left 



CRAONNjE - BERRY-AU-BAC 33 

saw the fighting for Brimont again; also 
the Uttle gunboats that used to be on the 
Somme. There were many Boche aviators 
out bombing. Four new men have arrived. 
They look fairly hopeful. 

May 4. The Germans have finally man- 
aged to set fire to the main part of Rheims. 
The Hotel de Ville is burning now, and 
the little cafe on the corner of the square 
where we always stopped, was "crowned" 
by a "220," just before we got there to- 
day. The proprietor and his family nar- 
rowly escaped by going into the cellar and 
then getting out again before the house 
burned down over their heads. So the 
Section pup's home is gone. The heavy 
bombardment of Brimont still is in prog- 
ress, and it looks like another French 
attack on the fort. I trust it won't be 
such a failure as the last. 

May 5. The French attacked and made 
four kilometers, but they lost half their 



34 FROM POILU TO YANK 

gain later. The bombardment still goes 
on. I went into Rheims with the *'Loot," 
Woody, and Flynn. The Hotel de Ville is 
now gutted, and our little cafe is a heap 
of ruins! What strikes one as odd in all 
these French bombarded towns is, that 
the men always are equipped with hel- 
mets and gas masks, while the women and 
children go about just as usual, bare- 
headed or with a shawl, in the most un- 
concerned manner! 

May 6. We got the shock of our lives 
last evening. Orders came for Lieutenant 
de Kersauson — our "Loot" — to leave 
Section 1, of which he has had charge for 
two years, and take over the new school 
at Meaux for training of ambulance men 
to be American officers. It certainly was 
a ''jolt." For the "Loot," of course, it 
means a captaincy, when he gets through 
with the school and takes charge under the 
new plan of four sections of ambulances or 



CRAONNE - BERRY-AU-BAC 35 

trucks, each with an American Lieuten- 
ant.^ Meantime, we have a temporary 
Lieutenant for the next couple of days 
when our new officer is to arrive. No 
one knows anything about him. 

We got some champagne and we saw 
our Lieutenant off at about ten o'clock in 
the evening in a driving rain and thunder- 
storm. It was a gloomy party. All chance 
for the "fourragere" for the Section is 
gone now, as it required a hustler like 
de Kersauson to put it over, by placing 
the Section in a position to earn it. 

May 7. The new temporary officer ar- 
rived last night and seems a good sort. 
The regular Lieutenant turned up later, so 
for the time being we have two "Loots "; 
but the temporary one leaves this morn- 
ing. He was a generous fellow and most 
amusing, and he ordered champagne all 

* This new system has not yet been put into operation. 
{Editor,) 



36 FROM POILU TO YANK 

around. He told us that his wife came 
from Denver, Colorado; that he himself 
was a Cornell man. He certainly under- 
stands things American. His sister is at 
Bryn Mawr College! It all seems very 
familiar, does n't it? ^ 

Our regular oflScer, by name Reymond, 
has been wounded, has the Croix, and 
was only recently promoted to a stripe. 
But he also talks English with facility 
and looks like a hustler — but has never 
been in America. Will he understand the 
boys? 

There seems to be more infection about, 
this spring, than there was last year. 
Quite a number of the men have infected 
hands, some quite severely. Kenyon had 
both hands so infected from minor cuts 
that he had to go on sick-leave. Wilson 
also is on sick-leave for "la gale," while 

* He was Lieutenant La Forgue, and is now a liaison 
officer with the American Army. {Editor.) 




THE AUTHOR AND THE NEW FRENCH LIEUTENANT 
OF SECTION 1, JAMES REYMOND 



CRAONNE — BERRY-AU-B AC 37 

Townsend, Hanna, Plow,^ Stout, and 
Pearl all have had some trouble of the 
same kind. I managed to ward off a felon 
with dioxygen and iodine, and Sponagle 
also staved off an infected cut with gaso- 
line and iodine. I suppose that this is due 
to this part of the country having been 
fought over so long. 

It was at this time that Section 1 was 
cited for the third time by the General 
Order of the Sixteenth Army Corps, Staff 
First Bureau. 

Citation to the Order of the Army Corps 

The S.S.U. No. 1, American Sanitary Section 
Under command of the Second Lieu- 
tenant de Kersauson de Pennendreff and of 
the American officer Herbert P. Townsend, 
at the Front since January, 1915, has been 
particularly distinguished by a devotion, a 
dash, and a courage worthy of all praise in 

^ Richard Plow is now in the Canadian Artillery. 
iEditor.) 



38 FROM POILU TO YANK 

the execution of the Service, particularly be- 
fore Verdun and during the attacks of Jan- 
uary 26th, 27th, and 28th, 1917, in the course 
of which it has assured, night and day, the 
evacuation of numerous wounded from a 
poste de secours at the Front line to the 
Ambulances through a road exposed to sight 
of the enemy and constantly subjected to the 
fire of enemy artillery, so that many cars were 
struck by shell fire. 

(Signed) General Herr 
General Commanding the 16th Army Corps 

May 9. We were shelled last night by 
big fellows; but nobody was hurt. 

May 10. The Lieutenant-Colonel and 
his staff, who have been occupying with us 
the Chateau de Muizon, moved out this 
morning to a place farther away from the 
lines, because of the recent shelling; so 
we now have much more room. 

May 12. I had an interesting afternoon 
to-day. I went down to the front line 
with the new "Loot," Woodworth, and 
de Mare, to see a colonel, who is de 



CRAONNE - BERRY-AU-B AC 39 

Mare's brother-in-law, in an effort to get 
attached to his division. After getting 
disconnected from the old 32d, de Ker- 
sauson had hoped to "hook up" with a 
live one, but with the loss of de Ker- 
sauson, our chance for a good berth dis- 
appeared. 

The fellows, however, have kicked so 
that Woody has taken matters into his 
own hands. Meantime we sit around, 
and read, eat, swim, play ball, and sleep. 

The Colonel received us kindly and cor- 
dially enough, and said he would do what 
he could. His dug-out was twenty feet 
underground and it was interesting to 
watch the handling of a regiment in the 
trenches by telephone. He said that he 
lost six hundred men and twenty officers 
in the last attack, which failed owing to 
insufficient aviation and lack of heavy 
artillery. Altogether he was very frank, 
and hardly optimistic. 



40 FROM POILU TO YANK 

We went into the observation posts and 
saw the Boche Hnes, only six hundred 
yards away. Coming back we saw an 
aviator fall in flames into the German 
lines. I could not make out whether he 
was an Ally or German. Anyhow, it was 
a fierce sight, and the only comforting 
thought was that he must have died 
almost instantly. 

May 15. We have organized two base- 
ball teams. The "Back and Forths" and 
the "Here and Theres." We have games 
every day, some of them most exciting. 
We have quite an audience of "poilus,** 
too. Of course, the playing is rather 
weird, but we get a lot of fun out of it. 

I went up with Woody, Hibbard, and 
Gamble ^ to call on Mrs. Tolstoy, an Amer- 
ican girl, a Miss Frothingham, of Boston, 
who is nursing at the Frigny Hospital. 
She married a Russian. She knows the 

^ Robert Gamble, of Jacksonville, Florida. He is 
now an officer in the Aviation Service. 



CRAONNE — BERRY-AU-BAC 41 

Frothinghams of Philadelphia. The Com- 
tesse de Benoist-d'Azy is in charge of the 
hospital.^ The latter tells me that Mrs. 
Tolstoy's name has been sent in for the 
Croix de Guerre for her work in the recent 
bombardment of the village in which the 
hospital is located. It appears that a 
woman was killed in the street, and her 
child, a baby in arms, was taken care of 
by Mrs. Tolstoy, who, instead of hiding 
in the dug-outs, went about ministering 
as best she could to the villagers and sol- 
diers injured by the bombardment. This 
occurred about three weeks ago. She 
does n't know yet that she has been cited. 
May 16. We had a big night last night. 
Word came that the old 32d Division had 
cited Woody, Hibbard, Kurtz, and Ned 
Townsend for their work last winter 



^ Madame de Benoist-d'Azy is a sister of Mr. Scam- 
mon Jones, now of Philadelphia. She has been deco- 
rated for her brave work. 



42 FROM POILU TO YANK 

around Hill 304. Kurtz, of course, has 
left us, and Ned is on sick-leave. But 
Woody and Hibbard opened wine and "a 
pleasant time was had by all." I guess 
that's about the last of the Croix de 
Guerre opportunities. The Section seems 
to be hopelessly "canned" now. We are 
unattached and there is not the slightest 
chance of our getting anything but punk 
— evacuating work, if even that. It is 
certainly tough luck to have come all the 
way over for this. 

May 17. One of the "Loot's" friends 
by the name of Jones turned up yester- 
day. He is in charge of an English Ambu- 
lance Section No. 16, which is near here. 
Quite "a guy" — half French, half Eng- 
lish ; wears a monocle. I went in to Rheims 
with Woodworth and the two "Loots" 
after dinner and we had quite a party in 
a new cafe which we have discovered, 
where there is a piano and a Victrola. 



CRAONNE — BERR Y-AU-BAC 43 

Jones says that the new French tanks were 
very badly handled in the Craonne offen- 
sive, and that he, himself, saw five burned 
up. Instead of taking their positions dur- 
ing the night, they moved up in broad 
daylight and the Boches simply played 
with them, shelling with phosphorous 
igniting shells. Their gas tanks were 
badly protected, and it was an easy mat- 
ter to set them on fire. 

A whale of a big gun turned up here to- 
day — a 380 marine ! The barrel is over 
fifty feet long and it is mounted on a rail- 
road truck. The French call it "La Reine 
Elizabeth." 

May 18. I hear that Andrew got rid 
of the French Lieutenant of one of the 
Sections. It is said that when the Boches 
attacked a while ago around Hill 304, 
the rumor got abroad that they had 
broken through. So this "Loot" lost no 
time in packing up his things and in 



44 FROM POILU TO YANK 

running ofif to a town well back of the 
lines in his staff car. And then he tele- 
phoned to the Section, which was working 
night and day, that, if they needed him, 
they could find him at this rear post. The 
Germans did get a couple of hundred 
yards of trenches, but the Americans re- 
mained on the job in spite of their "Loot " ! 
So the latter duly faded out of sight. 

Woody and I took a four-" striper " and 
a priest into Epernay yesterday. He cor- 
roborated all we had heard about the 
failure of the spring offensive. 

Finally we have obtained a little direct 
front-line work. Only one car for twenty- 
four hours, though, evacuating four little 
front-line "postes de secours." Every- 
thing is quiet and we are merely given this 
because we have been "kicking" for a 
month both in Paris and with the local 
army heads. 

May 22. Lieutenant Jones, of English 



CRAONNE — BERRY-AU-BAC 45 

S.S. 16, dropped in and asked Woody, the 
''Loot," and me to dine with him at 
Epernay. We went down in his car and 
met Sponagle retm^ning from "permis- 
sion." We had a very nice "feed" and 
stopped at Rheims on om- way back at the 
little cafe. Spone's description of condi- 
tions at Rue Raynouard was not encour- 
aging. 

May 23. While we were playing base- 
ball to-day, the Boches jumped on two 
"saucisses." One of the observers came 
down in his parachute all right. As there 
was not a sign of wind he was lucky to 
escape his falling gas bag. The other was 
simply squatted upon by his burning bag 
and vanished in a cloud of smoke rising 
lazily up to heaven as from a factory 
chimney on a dull, hazy day. 

White came back this morning from his 
twenty-four-hours "poste" work and re- 
ported an active night. He had his tire 



46 FROM POILU TO YANK 

punctured by an "eclat" which landed in 
the yard of the *'poste" at Chateau- 
Thierry 1 and simply plastered the French 
car beside him. Luckily no one was 
hurt. 

May 24. We have been definitely at- 
tached to a mixed division — the 152d, 
much of which is dismounted cavalry. 
We serve two "postes," Pouillon and 
Villers-Franqueux — right close up, and 
we evacuate to Chalons-sur-Vesle. For 
the moment we will retain the Chateau 
de Muizon as the regular *'cantonne- 
ment." Every one is delighted with the 
change, and especially with being actually 
hooked-up with something definite, in- 
stead of being a sort of pariah section. 

May 25. Disaster! All are plunged in 
woe! They have spread manure over our 
baseball field ! ! 

1 Where the Americans so distinguished themselves 
in June, 1918. 



CRAONNE — BERRY-AU-BAC 47 

May 26. Steve Galatti turned up 
to-day with the new staff car. He tells us 
that two Section 13 men were wounded 
last night over to the east of Rheims. But 
neither is badly hurt. 

May 27. Aviators dropped a dozen 
bombs on the town this morning. One 
fell within twenty or thirty feet from our 
tent. The fellows dived under beds or 
anything conveniently near. One man fell 
into the "feuillee" in his excitement. 

May 28. We saw a thrilling plane fight 
over our heads to-day. Two Frenchmen 
brought down a German. The latter 's 
gas tank exploded, and then they fairly 
riddled him with their mitrailleuses. He 
wormed down slowly, and finally fell in 
the field near Muizon. It proved to be a 
three-man plane. One was dead, the other 
two only slightly wounded. The motor 
was a six-cylinder Bruz, with four valves 
to each cylinder — a beautiful machine. 



48 FROM POILU TO YANK 

It carried two mitrailleuses. The " Germs '' 
were made prisoners and were rather 
roughly handled before an officer came up 
and took charge of them. The machine was 
nearly stripped bare by souvenir hunters. 
A poor ape, a new man, — or rather 
child, — went up to the front-line *'poste" 
at Villers-Franqueux yesterday, on the 
regular schedule, and got an "eclat" in his 
front wheel. Immediately, he rushed over 
to the Medecin Auxiliaire and got him to 
write a sort of signed affidavit that it had 
occurred; and then took it to the Lieuten- 
ant with the idea that it was good for a 
Croix de Guerre. The whole Squad are 
having the time of their lives with him 
now ! Every time anybody goes out in his 
car, he brings back a receipt and solemnly 
presents it to Woodworth. Flynn says 
he 's going to get a book like the messenger 
boys' and produce it at each hospital, 
saying, "Here are two blesses, sign here." 



CRAONNE — BERRY- AU-B AC 49 

May 29. I was at the Pouillon "poste" 
for twenty-four hours with Flynn and 
Weld/ interchanging at Villers-Fran- 
queux. We had pretty active shelhng at in- 
tervals. I climbed up in the church tower 
and watched the lines through binoculars. 
I could see the shells falling steadily on 
the trenches, but saw no troop movements. 

Our "abris" at Villers-Franqueux are 
amusingly named. One is "le Metro"; 
another is "^a m'suffit," which the men 
pronounce "Sam Suphy"; still another, 
"'Grotte des Coryphees," etc. Shells were 
dropping around near, and the concussion 
of one caused the sandbags of our "abri" 
doorway to cave in partially blocking the 
entrance. 

I went up to the Front at 3 a.m.; dawn 
was beginning to show. I nearly ran into 
a camouflage which had been hit by a 

1 Gameau Weld is still in Section 625 (old 1). He 
has just been awarded the Croix de Guerre (July, 
1918). {Editor.) 



50 FROM POILU TO YANK 

shell and blocked the road. Found only- 
one dead man, and came back. The 
*' Germs" are only six hundred yards oflE 
here and the road is in plain sight. 

We have to make the run at 3 a.m., 
whether called or not, as the only means 
of communication is by messenger, the 
telephone being cut so often by shells that 
they have given up attempting to keep it 
connected. 

May 30. This is Decoration Day. We 
put up a big flag, and when it was lowered 
at night we all lined up and oflScially 
saluted. It was the first time that we 
had observed any such ceremony. 

I hear that Sam Chew broke his arm 
cranking his car out in the Argonne, where 
we were posted last fall, and that he has 
gone home. His brother Oswald was 
looking very well a month ago when I 
passed through there. 



CHAPTER III 

AMERICA TO THE RESCUE 

Nous apportons ivres du monde et de nous m^mes, 
Des coeurs d' hommes nouveaux dans le vieil univers. 

E. Verhaeren (La multiple Splendeur) 

I SUPPOSE that I shall remain until the 
war is ended; but in what capacity I 
frankly admit I am at a loss to ascertain. 
The American Army is arriving, and we 
are, all of us, wondering whether we are 
to be given officers' jobs with it, or be 
merely taken over as ambulance men; or 
whether we will remain in the French ser- 
vice. Meantime, many of us have put in 
an application for the Officers' Training 
School for Americans. As for the present 
work, things are relatively quiet. The 
nightly air raids by the Germans do very 
little damage as compared with their 
expenditure of expensive ammunition. 
You see, a bomb can't do much unless it 



52 FROM POILU TO YANK 

lands exactly on top of the object aimed 
at, which is more or less a matter of luck! 

The first American contingent has ar- 
rived, but as yet I have seen none near 
the Front. I assume that they are being 
trained "somewhere." 

As for an officer's commission, I am 
very doubtful if I can pass the examina- 
tion, as the course is quite technical and 
difficult.^ You go to a regular training 
school for six weeks and the work is ex- 
ceedingly strenuous. After that, you pass 
into the Transport Service which, of 
course, is not nearly so interesting as the 
ambulance work; merely drudgery with- 
out the excitement. However, I shall fol- 
low the general lead of the volunteers, as 
no one yet seems to be very clear as to 
just what to expect. 

^ As a fact Lieutenant Stevenson eventually passed 
highest in a class of one hundred and fifty French and 
American officers and "non-coms." There were two 
others who did also: Lieutenant Tomkins and Lieuten- 
ant du Casse. (Editor.) 



AMERICA TO THE RESCUE 53 

It looks at present as if the American 
Ambulance Field Service proper might 
remain almost in its present form, the 
new truck end of it going over to the 
American Army. 

Excepting for the nightly aerial bomb- 
ing raids and for considerable air fighting 
during the day, the sector here is relatively 
quiet just now, and our work is light. The 
difficulty is to get sleep, as every night 
the Bodies come over and drop bombs 
on our town, and naturally it keeps us 
jumpy. 

June 2. Back from my twenty-four 
hours at the '*poste." Nothing much 
doing where we were; but there seemed to 
be more or less dislike a little farther 
over toward Craonne. Around Berry-au- 
Bac, they were pasting hell out of each 
other, and when I went up to Route 44 
*'poste" at the customary hour — 3 a.m. 
— I stopped and watched the argument. 



54 FROM POILU TO YANK 

It surely was Fourth-of-July stuff! 
"77's" and "75's," flares, hand grenades, 
mitrailleuses, shrapnel, and, now and 
then, a big fellow, besides the *'torpilles"! 
Coming back I nearly got a "crack" on 
the head from a camouflage which had been 
dropped by a shell a couple of hours pre- 
viously. Incidentally the staff car's wind- 
shield was broken by the same camouflage 
earlier in the evening. The thing had 
sagged down just low enough to catch 
the driver's head. 

Our ''abri," by the way, is "some 
sleeping-joint." The rats crawl around, 
over, and under you all night, and the air 
is evidently meant to train you for 
asphyxiating gases. 

As to food: sugar, tea, coffee, sardines 
we can obtain comparatively easily; but 
bacon, catsup, chocolate, salt crackers, 
good ham, are a great luxury. Orange 
marmalade, too, is hard to obtain, as the 



AMERICA TO THE RESCUE 55 

British Army practically gets the whole 
output. The war will continue several 
years if there is to be an end by crushing 
the German military force. They are 
quite as strong as they ever were on the 
Western Front, so long as the Russians 
are out of it. Their new **77's" are as 
good as the "75's" now, too, and the 
Austrian ''130" is "a bird"! I can speak 
with authority, as they are fired at us 
continually. 

June 4. Rice returned to the Section 
yesterday. Brewer, an old Section 1 man, 
though extremely young, came with him, 
making two extra men for the moment. 
But as Flynn and Hibbard are just now 
being disciplined for having stayed over 
in Epernay twenty-four hours, they are 
not allowed to run their cars or to go off 
the chateau grounds, and the new men 
will take their places for the next ten days. 

A Boche plane was brought down by 



56 FROM POILU TO YANK 

Guynemer here to-day. One man fell out 
before the plane came to the ground and 
there was not much left of him after the 
Arabs and niggers got through kicking 
the corpse around. The other was burnt 
up by the tank or by the carburetor 
exploding. 

June 5. Last night was quite a night. 
The *' Germs" began raiding us about 
eleven o'clock and dropped bombs all 
over the place, several falling so close that 
the flashes lit up the tent and the ground 
shook! Then, when we thought it was 
over and were beginning to doze off, 
another squadron came over and the 
same thing occurred all over again. Four 
times did this happen until we were all so 
jumpy that every time one heard the noise 
of a plane it seemed to be a Boche. Need- 
less to add that no one got much sleep, 
and even this morning another raid was 
attempted ! But this time the Huns were 




13 
►-t be 

W IB 

« I 



m 



AMERICA TO THE RESCUE 57 

driven off easily. Some of the fellows ran 
over from the tents to the archways of the 
chateau, but Woody, Sponagle, and I 
figured that it was rather silly, as the 
bombs were so large that the archways 
were really more dangerous than where 
we were lying on our tent beds in the open 
on the lawn, as here at least there would 
be no flying bricks and stones to speak of. 
I received to-day bully letters from 

mother and C . Certainly it is a relief 

to hear at last. The blessed Chicago is so 
slow that it takes a full month between 
letters, when the old raft's turn comes. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE DEATH ROLL 

If the bowl be of gold and the liquor of flame. 

What if poison lie in the cup? 
If the maiden be fair — our soul's in the game; 
If her kisses be death — we '11 kiss her just the same. 
Sang the legion of boys who never grew up. 
Charles Law Watkins 
American Field Service Bulletin, June 1, 1918 
{The Boys Who Never Grew Up) 

June 6. Went over with Kenyon, Plow, 
Woodworth, and Sponagle to Fismes, to 
call on the aviators located there. We 
had a great time with Guynemer's " Spad " 
Section and a bombing and scouting Sec- 
tion of Caudrons and Farmans. They 
have a regular little club-room in one of 
the hangars, with a piano and bar deco- 
rated by real artists. 

Kenyon played the violin and one of the 
aviators accompanied him on the piano. 
At about eleven o'clock a German plane 
came over and dropped four bombs within 



THE DEATH ROLL 59 

less than fifty feet of the hangars. Need- 
less to say that every one was flat on 
the ground. Guynemer being there, the 
Boches are constantly after him and they 
say that his health is failing. All the same, 
he brought down two Germans yesterday, 
bringing his record up to forty-three — 
which tops them all.^ 

^ Guynemer was killed September 11, 1917, three 
months after this. One is tempted to publish here the 
remarkable allocution delivered by General Anthoine, 
commanding the First Army, in honor of Guynemer, 
before all the flags of the First Army, the aviators, and 
the members of the Legion d'Honneur, on November 30, 
1917, on the Aviation Field of Saint-Pol-sur-Mer: — 

"If I have invited you to-day to render to Guynemer 
the last homage that is due to him by the First Army, 
it is neither before a coffin nor near a grave. Neither, 
at Poelcappelle reconquered, has a vestige of his mortal 
remains been found. It seems as though Heaven, jealous 
of its hero, had refused to restore to earth even the 
spoils which as a right should be returned to it — as 
though Guynemer entire had flown to the empyrean 
by some miraculous ascension, disappearing in all his 
glory. 

"In assembling on the very spot whence he darted 
toward Infinity, we pass above the customary rites of 
sadness which crowned the end of a man's life, and we 



60 FROM POILU TO YANK 

June 7. Our old ''Loot," de Kersauson 
de Pennendreff, turned up yesterday and 
spent the night with us. Allen Muhr and 

mean to salute the entrance into immortality of the 
Kiiight-of-the-Air without fear or reproach. 

*'Men pass, France remains. 

*'Each of those who fall for her bequeath to her one 
ray of glory; and of those rays is built up her splendor. 
Happy is he who enriches the common patrimony of 
the race by a gift more precious, more magnificent 
of himself. Happy, therefore, among all, the child of 
France, of whom we exalt the almost superhuman 
destiny. 

"Honor to him in heaven where he reigned so often 
victorious. 

"Honor to him on earth and in our soldiers* hearts, 
and in our flags, those sacred emblems in which are 
embodied for us the cultus of Honor and the worship of 
country. 

"Flags of the Second Group of Aviation and of the 
First Army, ye who piously gather in the mystery of 
your revered folds the memory of the virtues, the devo- 
tion, and the sacrifices, in order to form and to keep 
through the ages the treasure of our national tradi- 
tions — 

"Flags, ye in whom survives the soul of dead heroes, 
of which one seems to hear, when flutters your bunting, 
the voice that orders the living to march on through the 
same perils to the same apotheoses — 

"Flags, may the soul of Guynemer dwell eternally 
in you. 



THE DEATH ROLL 61 

Reed were along. Both of them are pupils 
at the Meaux School. It appears that the 
course is much more difficult than any of 

"May it through you create and multiply heroes in 
his image. 

"May it, through you, inspire the same ardent re- 
solves in neophytes who will wish to honor the martyr 
in the only manner that is worthy of him, by imitating 
his lofty example; and may it give to his valiant fol- 
lowers, the strength to revive in them Guynemer in his 
legendary prowess. 

"For the only homage that he may henceforth expect 
from his brothers in arms and that we owe him here, is 
action — the proud continuation of his work. 

"At that supreme moment, where, on the limits of 
life, he felt his thought about to escape him, when he 
embraced in one sweep, as through a lightning flash, all 
the past and all the future, if he could know one last 
pleasure, it must have been found in his absolute faith 
in his comrades' power to finish the task undertaken in 
common with him. 

"You, gentlemen, his friends, his rivals in glory, and 
now, his avengers, I know you; and such as was Guy- 
nemer, I am sure of you. You are of a size to face those 
formidable burdens which he has bequeathed to you 
and to nobly realize the vast hopes which, with good 
reason, the country had set upon him. 

"It is to affirm in front of our flags, noble witnesses, 
this assured continuity so necessary, that I wish to 
bestow in the course of this very ceremony, under the 



62 FROM POILU TO YANK 

us imagined and quite technical in regard 
to motors. Also, when you graduate, you 
do not take charge of an ambulance sec- 
aegis of Guynemer's memory, under his invocation, to 
two of you — two of the stoutest fighters — distinc- 
tions which at once are the reward of the past and a 
guerdon of the future. [The General then fastened the 
Cross of OflScer of the Legion of Honor on Captain 
Heurtaux's breast and that of Knight of the Legion of 
Honor on Adjutant Fonck's]. 

"Let us rise in our hearts, united in one fraternal 
thought of respectful admiration and of gratitude for 
the heroes whom the First Army can never forget — 
for her hero of whom she was so proud, and of whom the 
Great Shade will ever soar in history in the memory of 
his actions in Flanders. 

"Such Shades as those of Guynemer surely guide 
those who know how to follow toward the triumphant 
path which through ruins, graves, and sacrifices lead 
the strong and the true to glorious Victory. 

"Amen." 
General Order No. 50. 

Le General Commandant la I^*^ Armee, cite a 
I'ordre de TArmee: — 

M. Guynemer, Georges, Capitaine Commandant 
I'Escadrille, N°3: — 

Mort au Champ d'Honneur le 11 Septembre 1917. 
Heros legendaire, tombe en plein ciel de gloire, apres 
trois ans de lutte ardente. Restera le plus pur symbole 
des qualites de la race — tenacite indomptable, energie 



THE DEATH ROLL 63 

tion, but of a truck section, which is by 
no means as interesting work. Altogether, 
their news was disappointing. 

It does not look as though Piatt Andrew 
could have as much control, now that the 
.•egular American Army is arriving. Ten 
thousand men already have landed in 
Bordeaux, and as many more are on the 
way. The plan is to have one hundred and 
twenty-five thousand men here by au- 
tumn. It is said that General Pershing 
already is in France. Those of us who 
were thinking of trying for grades are not 
so keen now that we are obtaining a more 

farouche, courage sublime. Anime de la foi la plus 
inebranlable dans la victoire, il legue au soldat frangais, 
un souvenir imperissable qui exaltera I'esprit de sacri- 
fice et provoquera les plus nobles emulations. 

(These words are inscribed on the wall of the Pan- 
theon in Paris.) 

Adjutant Fonck has splendidly made good. A few 
days after this, he avenged his friend by killing Lieu- 
tenant Weisemann, his slayer; and, in August, 1918, he 
even outstripped his hero, by bringing down his sixtieth 
plane. (Editor.) 



64 FROM POILU TO YANK 

definite line on what we would get to do 
if we did graduate. The next School starts 
on July 20 with twenty-five instead of 
fifteen men. The present School ends next 
week. 

June 8. The Boches dropped a lot of 
bombs on Frigny, killing eight and wound- 
ing several other men. At Epernay a 
division commander was killed at the 
headquarters, which was the house of 
Chandon — of Moet et Chandon fame. 
The entire mansion was destroyed. 

I knocked my little finger out of joint 
playing ball. A nuisance! 

June 10. Farlow leaves to-morrow, his 
six months being up. He is going to try 
for the artillery. Everybody is sorry to 
see him go. We gave him a party last 
night. Stockwell sang ''The Big Black 
Bull"; Hibber,t played the mandolin; 
champagne flowed, and every one had a 
pleasant time. 




0^ -^ 

o 3 



o ^ 

S « 
< p- 

^' L 

<: 

Oh 

o 
> 

H 

m 



THE DEATH ROLL 65 

I put my thumb out of joint playing 
ball! Both wretched hands are crippled 
now! • • ' 

The morale of the troops around here is 
very poor. A regiment from the ''midi" 
of a cavalry division revolted on the 
day before yesterday, killing their officers, 
because they were not allowed to go "en 
repos." The Annamites had to be called 
out, and two hundred men were shot 
before order could be restored. The en- 
tire division is to be sent to Salonica as a 
punishment. 

June 12. Three of our fellows pulled a 
kindergarten stunt yesterday. The first 
two had been trying for several days to 
get transferred to the Artillery School, 
but had received no reply from Andrew. 
So they announced that they were going 
to get themselves sent down to Paris, and 
proceeded to make a lot of noise, threat- 
ening to "get Woody," who, incidentally, 



66 FROM POILU TO YANK 

had done all he could to get them trans- 
ferred. Contrary to their hopes, the rest 
of the Squad sided with Woody and their 
plan fell flat. They only succeeded in 
making asses of themselves. The poor 
little babies ought to be sent to a kinder- 
garten, rather than to an artillery school. 

June 13. It was decided to jail for four 
days the leaders and to let the third go, 
as he was younger and a sort of ''goat" 
for the other two. Unfortunately, how- 
ever, orders came from Headquarters for 
the first to report in Paris. So they es- 
caped after all. But thank goodness, we Ve 
got rid of the leader. The Section certainly 
is lucky to lose him. 

June 15. I got up to the "poste" by 
luck, being third ''remplagant" — two 
men "en permission," and Holt sick with 
"la gale." I had a rather amusing day. 
We spotted a Boche camouflage and the 
artillery gave them hell ! With customary 



THE DEATH ROLL 67 

Teutonic thoroughness, they'd built a 
regular forest in front of the road from the 
north to Rheims. That's where, with 
customary lack of perception, they failed 
to "get by." The French, naturally, 
know their own country, and they also 
knew well enough that a forest would n't 
grow up overnight. If they'd faked a 
"picture" of the road, it would have been 
a different thing. Well, very few Boches 
will get by those five kilometers these 
days. 

June 16. Woody was killed last eve- 
ning. I have not got quite used to the 
idea yet. It does n't seem real. He was 
the best friend I had in the Ambulance. 
Chatkoff, of the observing and directing 
escadrille, driving a Caudron, invited him 
and Sponagle to go up with him. Spone 
went first, stayed up about twenty min- 
utes, and came back so that Woodworth 
could have his turn. They decided to go 



68 FROM POILU TO YANK 

beyond Soissons to see the American 
Escadrille. They got over all right. 

Jones to-day told me the rest. On start- 
ing to come back about six o'clock, it is 
thought that Chatkoff, who had failed to 
be asked to join the American Escadrille 
(Lafayette), was anxious to show them 
what he could do. Before he and Wood- 
worth were sixty feet ofiF the ground, he 
tried to make a fancy hank, side-slipped, 
and it was all over. 

Lufbery^ says that it was as much plain 

^ Raoul Luf bery himself was killed in combat a year 
later. At the time of his death he was the leading 
American flier in the Lafayette Escadrille. He was fly- 
ing long before the United States entered the war. He 
was buried with every honor on May 21, 1918. The last 
time Lieutenant Stevenson saw him to speak to was in 
Paris shortly before his death, when both men were 
**en permission," and came cross each other at Henry's. 
Lufbery was brought down by a big Boche double 
plane, quite near the camp where Lieutenant Stevenson 
had his quarters. When his plane caught fire, he at- 
tempted to jump into a water-course below from a 
height of some five hundred yards. He missed and fell 
into a garden and was killed instantly. As usual, his 




1" 



RAOUL LUFBERY 



THE DEATH ROLL 69 

murder as any one could see. He had no 
right to risk another fellow's life just to 
show off. Woody never knew what hap- 

comrades flew over his grave, throwing flowers over him 
^s he was lowered to his last resting-place. 

Lufbery had nineteen Boches to his credit and at the 
time of his death was far and away the leading American 
flyer. At that time. Lieutenant Stevenson said that 
Frank L. Baylies was creeping up to second place with 
six ofl5cial enemy planes to his credit, while the news- 
papers credited him with eleven victories. But Baylies 
is in the French Escadrille "Les Cigognes," and it is 
possible that he would n't be scored with the Ameri- 
cans. For Baylies' record see below, p. 90, et seq. 

In the War Letters of Edmond Charles Clinton Genet, 
page 284, the writer claims the honor of havmg deco- 
rated this little living-room where the Lafayette Esca- 
drille made history. He writes: — 

**Our living-room, where we are most of the time 
when off duty, is a mighty attractive little den. We 
have covered the walls with corrugated cardboard 
strips — smooth side outside — over the rough boards, 
and on this, in various places I have drawn and painted 
vivid scenes of aerial combats between French and 
German machines, and here and there I have made 
other pencil drawings of girls. Each of the two doors is 
draped with attractive blue and brown curtains, the 
four windows have white curtains, except one which 
caught fire from a lamp by accident last night, and a 
huge painting of an Indian head, the symbol of the 



70 FROM POILU TO YANK 

pened. The motor fell on him. Skull 
crushed; no face left; both legs broken at 
the hips and all the flesh scraped off the 
bones. 

escadrille, which is also painted on each of our machines. 
The Indian's mouth is open as though he were shouting 
his terrible war cry in defiance of his enemies, and he 
looks very warlike indeed. It's quite an appropriate 
symbol for the escadrille, being something so genu- 
inely American. For entertainment, we have a pretty 
fair piano," etc. 

Among the aviators whom Lieutenant Stevenson 
met about this time was Nungesser who recently has 
been named Officer of the Legion of Honor, having 
added two more victories to his already numerous list. 
This swells his record to thirty-six enemy planes. He 
enjoys the uncomfortable distinction of having been 
more wounded than any living pilot. Le Matin re- 
cently published a full list of his wounds, as follows : — 

"Fracture of the cranium, cerebral commotion, inter- 
nal lesions, five fractures of the upper jaw, two fractures 
of the lower jaw, shell eclat in the right arm, two dis- 
located knees, one knee redislocated, shell splinter in 
the mouth, atrophied ligaments of the lower left leg, 
atrophied calf, two fractures of the jaw, dislocated 
clavicle, internal lesion, wrist, leg, and right foot out of 
joint, fracture of the horizontal branch of the inferior 
maxillary, contusion thoraco-pulmonary. He was three 
times reformed in Class No. 1, but he never would 
accept convalescence leave. Whilst in the Dunkirk hos- 



THE DEATH ROLL 71 

Chatkoff had three skull fractures, both 
legs broken at the hips, and a splinter 
through the lower part of his body. He is 
still alive, but in a state of coma and is 
not expected to live. 

I drove over to get Woody's body — 
fifty miles there and fifty back. All the 
officials were most kind. Spone and I 
lunched with the American aviators and 
came back in the afternoon, dead tired. 
Hibbard and Plow went to Epernay and 
got a fine zinc-lined coffin, lots of flowers, 
and so forth ; I wired Kurtz, Balbiani, and 
de Kersauson; also Andrew and Dr. Gros. 

pital, he took advantage of his days out to bring down 
nine official planes! And now, he continues his record 
by bringing down Boches by pairs!" 

"While quoting the Matin's list," says Mr. Steven- 
son, "I may add that this does not take into account 
the time when his chauffeur died while driving his car 
in Paris, and the car ran into a stone wall. Nungesser 
blew into Maxim's a few minutes later with his head all 
bandaged, and had a cocktail with one or two of us who 
happened to be there, while he arranged for the body 
of his man to be taken care of." (Editor.) 



72 FROM POILU TO YANK 

Jones, Johnson, and Shaw will try to get 
over to-morrow, although it is out of their 
army. I wired Miss Brown of Philadel- 
phia. Woodworth's father is dead and he 
has no near relatives. It's sickening. He 
and Sponagle and I had been living lately 
together in a little tent. 

June 17. We buried Woody at Chalons- 
sur-Vesle, our evacuating "poste." The 
weather was fine; shells coming in occa- 
sionally. All the officers of the Division 
whom we knew were there together with 
some of the other Divisions, and a platoon 
of Zouaves as guard of honor. Andrew 
could not get up, but Galatti was on hand 
with a beautiful bronze wreath. The boys 
picked wild flowers all morning and had a 
bully display. Ned Townsend, Hibbard, 
Stockwell, and I carried the coffin. Every- 
thing went without a hitch and the Epis- 
copalian minister delivered a fine sermon. 
A mistake was made in having on the 



THE DEATH ROLL 73 

cross at the grave the word "aviator" 
instead of "ambulancier"; but the cross 
already has been changed, and later a 
stone monument will replace it. He was 
buried with his own American silk flag 
on which was pinned the Croix de Guerre. 

June 18. Sponagle, being Sous-Chef, 
takes the lieutenancy pro tem, and I was 
made Sous-Chef. Pearl was made Chief 
Mechanician, replacing Sponagle, who 
had been temporarily holding the two jobs. 

Of course, the fact that Chatkoff had 
no right to take up a passenger and to 
fly into another army zone, and that 
*' Woody" had no right to go out of his 
army either, has created a big row, and 
the Section is likely to be punished by 
withdrawal to the rear. At all events, we 
are bound to be watched and inspected 
very carefully, so all the men are on the 
jump, every car washed, all the motors 
overhauled. No leaves of absence are 



74 FROM POILU TO YANK 

granted beyond the "cantonnement," etc. 
Even ''permissionnaires" are no longer 
taken to Epernay in an ambulance, but 
must find their way walking or begging 
a lift from a passing '* camion." 

June 19. The cavalry horses broke 
loose last night, frightened by bombs, and 
scattered all over the place. The men were 
out all night catching them. Such a riot! 

June 21. Word came to move and we 
were busy all day. Holt returned cured of 
'*la gale" and Gamble is over his fever. 
Both were up at the Chalons Hospital for 
a week or so and had a very good time 
with the pretty nurses. 

Louvois is our new "cantonnement." 
It is about fifteen kilometers southeast of 
Rheims. Apparently we are in luck not 
to get sent to the rear and are to take over 
really more front-line work than we have 
had. 

June %%, This is a very interesting sec- 



THE DEATH ROLL 75 

tor. We have pleasant " cantonnements " 
in the quaint little town to the east of 
Rheims. Sponagle and I being the oflficers 
have a small bedroom; the boys are all 
together in a big, airy room — a much 
better arrangement than to let them sepa- 
rate into cliques. We all eat at one long 
table also. The arrangement as to work 
is rather odd. Six cars stay away three 
days. Four at Ludes, the village where 
the hospital is, and one at each of the 
advanced "postes" which are "whales"! 
They are shelled all the time. Two men 
are relieved each day, so that everybody 
gets a hack at the work. I hear that Sec- 
tion 13 near here had eight men wounded 
the other day, and their Lieutenant had 
both legs shot away. They got an Army 
citation. I received to-day a nice letter 
from Kurtz anent Woodworth's death. 
Kurtz is still in charge of Section 18, now 
at Glorieux near Verdun. 



76 FROM POILU TO YANK 

But to return: The work is interesting 
with four '*postes" on the front line and 
evacuations to Epernay, so that we have 
a good variety of driving, and it keeps the 
men busy and interested. For a time we 
had considerable trouble with the boys 
who were "fed-up," grouchy, and nervous. 
The lack of sleep was the worst trouble, as 
even back in the " cantonnements " the 
nightly aero raids kept every one, who 
was at all nervous, on the jump. Some of 
the men have since confessed to me that 
they had virtually not slept throughout 
the last period when the moon was shin- 
ing — that's when the planes come over 
— a matter of two weeks at a stretch. 
Now, our camp is sufficiently far back to 
be out of the raiding area, especially as it 
is not near a railway — the usual Boche 
objective. Personally I am such a sound 
sleeper that I never heard the bombs un- 
less they actually fell in our immediate 



THE DEATH ROLL 77 

neighborhood. But some of the boys 
say that it was the sound of the approach- 
ing plane that "got their goats"! They 
could hear it gradually getting nearer and 
nearer and dropping bombs as it came, 
and it was a sort of fifty-fifty with them 
as to whether those night birds would lay 
one of their iron eggs on the tent or not. 

Well, I 'm glad to say we Ve gone away. 
I hated the place since poor Woody's 
death. The cars now go up the line, and 
stay there for a period of three days 
each — six of them — and are relieved by 
two's. The officers and the doctor also are 
a fine lot of men — quite different from 
the last bunch we were with. So all is for 
the best in the best of worlds! 

June 23. Holt's "gale" has returned 
and he is to be sent again to the hospital. 
The men as a whole respond very well to 
the stricter regulations and "Eddy" and 
I have had little trouble so far. 



78 FROM POILU TO YANK 

We met the local officers last night, and 
they were most polite and pleasant. They 
drank our health, and that of all Ameri- 
cans, etc. 

June 24. We dined with the Medecin 
Chef and his staff at the hospital. They 
gave us a bully dinner and all were most 
kind. Such a difference from Muizon! 



CHAPTER V 

OFFICER AND CHIEF OF SECTION 1 

Toute la vie est dans TEssor . . . 

Car vivre, c'est prendre et donner avec liesse 

. . . Avide et haletant 

Devant la vie intense et sa rouge sagesse! 

Vebhaeren {Les Forces Tumultueuses) 

June 25. Word has just come that I 
had been made "Chef" and that Spone 
goes to Meaux. I hate to think of the 
utter loneliness before me. It is hard to 
lose the last of the Mohicans. First 
Woody, and now Spone! I'm left now 
practically the only one of the old Somme 
gang, excepting Ned Townsend. 

The great honor of being appointed 
Commander of Section carries with it the 
equivalent of a First Lieutenancy in the 
French Army. I do hope I can hold down 
the job properly. It is a difficult one, as 
the men are so hard to keep disciplined 



80 FROM POILU TO YANK 

when they are not getting much work. 
Little cliques form, and grouches develop, 
and a general spirit of unrest is apt to pre- 
vail. Just now we are fairly active and the 
morale is good; but of course, one never 
can tell how long this will continue. 

I expect to go down to Paris on my 
"permission" about the first week in 
July, and hope to run across Harry Dillard 
and the rest of the doctors from Phila- 
delphia, although I am not sure whether 
they have remained in Paris or have been 
shifted somewhere else. 

In a way, I am sorry to be taken off my 
car, and the life of a Section Chief is 
rather lonely, as one cannot play around 
with the men as much as before. ^ On the 
other hand, one has a staff car of one's 
own, and a private officer's room with an 
orderly, and all that, so that one's crea- 
ture comforts are fine. It remains to be 
seen if our new Lieutenant has the push 



CHIEF OF SECTION 1 81 

that made de Kersauson so successful; but 
I like him and I get along with him very 
well. I dined with the French officers 
quartered here last night — mostly cav- 
alry — and I had a very good time. The 
previous night I dined with the Medecin 
Principal and his staff. I'm not awfully 
keen on that sort of thing, but that is 
one of the duties of an officer's job. They 
were all awfully polite and pleasant, how- 
ever. 

Two men arrived to-day. G. F. Norton^ 
looks good; also Rice (Philip S.). He is no 
relation to W. G. Rice. No doubt he'll 
turn out all right. He is a Pennsylvanian 
— comes from Wilkes-Barre.^ 
I June 26. Sponagle left to-day with 
Plow, who was recalled, owing to his esca- 
pade with Kenyon at Muizon. I was sorry 

* George Frederick Norton, of New York. 
2 Philip S. Rice, of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, 
stock-broker. 



8^ FROM POILU TO YANK 

about it, and told him so; but it could n't 
be helped, and Sponagle promised to see 
what he could do to prevent his being 
given a black mark. 

When I got back from taking them to 
Epernay, who should have turned up but 
Andrew with a man named Osborn, whom 
he was taking to see his brother who had 
been seriously wounded in Section 28.^ 

Andrew announced that he wished to 
take W. G. Rice and Hibbard for Chefs of 
new Sections, so that we are losing four 
good men on one single day! Well, it is 
all in the game! They left on the noon 
train. 

I put in a good word for Plow with 
Andrew, and I think that he will get out 
of the scrape. 

Gamble tells me that the crowd is 
pleased with my appointment because 

^ Paul Osborn died. He was cited and decorated by 
order of the Fourth Army. (Editor.) 



CHIEF OF SECTION 1 83 

they feel that I will be ''perfectly fair 
with them." That's some consolation 

anyway. 

June 28. I fired a man to-day. I hate 
this sort of thing, but it has to be done. 
I told him that we only want men up 
here who are both able and willing to work 
and that he seemed to be neither. '' What 
have I done?" he asked. "It's what you 
have n't done," I replied: car never clean, 
breaking minor rules, shamming sickness 
when it is his turn to work, and so on. 
Everybody says I was perfectly right. In 
my official letter I merely stated that he 
did not seem physically able to keep up 
the standard of work required by this 
Section, and that I thought something 
lighter than field service would suit him 
better. The boys all seem to approve the 

step. 

June 30. Philip S. Rice received his 
baptism of fire all right the first night X 



84 FROM POILU TO YANK 

sent him out. Gas attack and heavy 
shelling — quite complete! All the cars 
at the ''poste" were kept rolling all night. 
He came through with flying colors. Stout 
got a shrapnel "eclat" through his wind- 
shield. 

It is funny how stories get exaggerated. 
Some one must have remarked to a doc- 
tor about the car being hit. The doctor 
told some one else, and this afternoon we 
were called by the Etat-Major asking 
about the three cars they heard had been 
destroyed ! 

The Lieutenant and I took a hurried 
trip of inspection around the "postes" and 
found that it was all due to the one hole 
in Stout's car, and so reported to Head- 
quarters. But the four-striped Medecin 
Principal had to make assurance doubly 
sure. So we had to take him around to 
all the "postes" again. Incidentally the 
Germans were shelling Sillery so hard that 




Q 

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Q 
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C/2 



CHIEF OF SECTION 1 85 

the General ordered the "'poste" evacu- 
ated, and we found it only after hunting 
around, at the far end of the village, 
established in a wine cellar. The old 
"poste" at which we worked until last 
night was utterly destroyed and is now 
simply a mass of overturned ruins. The 
car-drivers were lucky to have escaped. 

I have made Jim White, ^ Vic White's 
brother, Sous-Chef. The crowd seemed 
pleased. A new man, Tapley, arrived to- 
day. The Section is now complete. 

July 2. This, certainly, is no soft job. 
I spend most of my time acting as a 
bumper between the Frenchmen in the 
Section and boys who insist on "kid- 
ding" them. A Frenchman does not un- 
derstand the American method of teasing 
and jollying, and he gets raving mad, 

^ James M. White, brother of Victor White, of New 
York. See At the Front in a Flivver. He is now Lieu- 
tenant in the Gas Service, A.E.F. 



86 FROM POILU TO YANK 

feeling insulted. And so I spend my time 
smoothing over alleged insults which were 
never meant. I have given strict orders 
to all the fellows now, that they "must n't 
tease the animals." But, of course, it is 
very hard for them not to *'kid" some of 
the men we have with us who are cer- 
tainly a childish lot. Among them are a 
few who, being extremely young and just 
graded, have the typical college graduate 
idea that they are about the most im- 
portant personages in the universe. Of 
course the fellows just laugh at them. 
Well, I suppose that it is all in the 
day's work, but it is a decided nuisance 
for me. 

July 5, We had a wonderful banquet 
yesterday. The corporation declared a 
two hundred and fifty francs dividend, 
and Pierre, the "fournier," and the chef 
outdid themselves. We even had ice- 
cream! The boys all acted nicely. The 



CHIEF OF SECTION 1 87 

"poste" men were out of luck, but we sent 
up to them what we could. We had the 
American and Section flag up too. All 
agreed that it was the very best dinner 
the Section ever had. The Government 
allowed us the customary forty-eight 
hours' "permission," and we picked three 
men who would not be on duty for two 
days — Patterson, Flynn, and Pearl. The 
latter is our Chief Mechanic and has been 
working his head off lately, and deserved 
a rest. 

I've decided to take only four of my 
seven days' *' permission," as there have 
been signs of increasing activity here- 
abouts recently. 

July 7, I had most interesting talks in 
Paris with McFadden, Cartier, Galatti, 
Ewell, Plow, and Bosworth. Evidently 
there is to be a big change in the Ameri- 
can Ambulance Field Service. Ewell, 
Galatti, and McFadden are practically 



88 FROM POILU TO YANK 

running everything. Dodge, of Section 3, 
has been made co-inspector with Galatti. 
Then there is the Harjes-Norton compU- 
cation ! 

I dined with Muhr and End. The latter 
is as sore as a crab over his treatment in 
Salonica. He is going home. 

July 8. I saw Giles Francklyn,^ who is 
driving a truck for the moment, waiting 
to get into the Army. They won't give 
him a berth, although he talks French as 
well as he does English. He has the Croix 
de Guerre, and is of military age. Really 
it is a shame. He is undecided as to 
whether to try the only avenue — avia- 
tion — through Dr. Gros. He wants to 
get into the artillery. He told me of 
Baylies' latest: — 

It appears that the first time he was 
put on one of those trying-out machines 

* Giles B. Francklyn, of Lausanne. Served in Sec- 
tions 1 and 3. 



CHIEF OF SECTION 1 89 

at the School which run along the ground 
and have only cut wings to prevent them 
from flying, so that beginners can't be 
hurt, he managed to so handle the thing 
that, to the utter amazement of every one 
in the field, he made it jump some forty 
or fifty feet in the air; a performance 
that never had been attempted or seen 
before. 

Then, when he found himself up there, 
he did n't know how to land. He set him- 
self about twenty minutes to live, as the 
tank held but little gasoline. Meantime, 
every aviator and mechanic had rushed 
to the field to see the flying freak which 
no one knew could fly. Baylies was flying 
round and round, in the lap of the gods! 
They were as ever merciful to him. After 
some minutes of helpless flying, with true 
Baylies luck, he finally crashed into a nice 
soft tree, smashed the machine to pieces, 
and was not even scratched ! The yarn is 



90 FROM POILU TO YANK 

all over the Front already, and it only 
happened a couple of days ago ! ^ 

* Frank L. Baylies, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, 
who furnished the author so many amusing paragraphs 
in At the Front in a Flivver, and who, for the "Ambulan- 
ciers" of Section 1, became the origin of the new verb 
"to baylies," used as an equivalent for the French 
**faire un gaffe," but whose good luck never deserted 
him, eventually became a noted aviator. He entered 
the Flying Corps on his return from Salonica, where he 
had gone with a newly formed ambulance. In April 
last he already had brought down his fifth Hun machine, 
and his exploits as well as his adventures have become 
legendary. He was, when recently reported killed, a 
member of the celebrated Escadrille "Les Cigognes,*' 
which Guynemer immortalized and the glorious tradi- 
tion of which Captain Heurtaux, recently among us, 
and Adjutant Fonck have so nobly continued. Bay- 
lies' escape from capture by the Germans in April, 
1918, when after an air-fight he was obliged to land 
in No Man's Land some five hundred yards from 
the enemy trenches, thrilled two continents. The Ger- 
mans, of course, as he approached, began to pepper 
his plane, and Baylies, who was a good athlete, as he 
came low enough to the earth, sprang out of his ma- 
chine and made time for the French lines. The Germans 
ran in pursuit, chasing him with rifles and machine 
guns. The French, seeing the game on, opened fire on 
the Huns. They dropped one German and drove the 
rest back to their own lines, while Baylies sprinted 



I 



CHIEF OF SECTION 1 91 

July 11. I returned to the Section, and 
found that Andrew had been here, but 

for dear life. He declared that he made the last sixty 
yards of that race in record time. At this time Lieuten- 
ant Stevenson wrote home that the French general com- 
manding the Section personally congratulated the 
young American upon his good work and narrow escape. 
Since last April, however, Baylies had "bagged" his 
sixth Boche, and the cry was "Still they come," for on 
June 8 of this year a cable dispatch to a newspaper an- 
nounced that Baylies had destroyed his eleventh official 
German airplane. 

His account of his latest exploit at that time, as re- 
ported by Mr. Paul Ayres Rockwell, was that he was 
on patrol five kilometers (three miles) behind the Ger- 
man lines, and when about to start homeward, as his 
fuel was getting low, he noticed a French observer 
machine tumbling down in a "vrille" with four German 
monoplanes in pursuit, firing at it. He thought the 
Frenchman done for, but he also thought he'd take a 
hand in the fight. He attacked the topmost Hun whom 
he sent down on fire. Then he retreated. At one hun- 
dred yards from the ground he saw the Frenchman rally 
and make for his own lines. He had seventeen bullet 
holes in his make-up. The pilot laughingly said that 
he had feigned to be mortally disabled; but that he 
must have been in a dreadful predicament but for 
Baylies' timely diversion. His observer was severely 
wounded. 

Our young old friend was in a fair way to take the 
place of the much-regretted Lufbery, and it is a pleas- 



92 FROM POILU TO YANK 

only stayed a little while and knew, or 
pretended to know, nothing about the 
American Ambulance Field Service's 
future. 

En attendant, minor attacks are occur- 
ring and the boys have been fairly busy. 
Rumors of Austria entering into negotia- 
tions for a separate peace are rife. Also 
rumors of coming big attacks by the 
Alhes on the Belgian seacoast and near 
the Swiss frontier. Meantime, the Boches 
have approached a little closer to Rheims. 
Some of the men have had fairly close 
calls. 

ure to record his splendid work. In aviation, daring and 
luck count for much, and Baylies seems for a time to 
have had both. It was, therefore, with more than usual 
dismay among those who knew the brave lad that the 
news of his death was received; and one clung to the 
hope that his phenomenal luck might not have deserted 
him, and that he might have been made prisoner. The 
German aviators, however, dropped the information 
on the airdrome of "Les Cigognes" that he had been 
killed in action; and the American Field Service Bulletin 
of July 14, 1918, states that he was shot in the head. 
(Editor.) 



CHIEF OF SECTION 1 93 

July 13. Norton was killed at the Ludes 
Chalet, last night at ten o'clock. An aero- 
plane bomb dropped about twenty feet 
from the boys' sleeping quarters. They 
all were in bed, excepting Norton, who, 
after putting out the light and lying down, 
heard the planes and got up to look out. 
An "eclat" caught him squarely in the 
throat, cutting the jugular vein and kill- 
ing him without his ever knowing what 
hit him.^ 

Elliott had a very close call. Three or 
four "eclats" smashed through the wall 
right above where he lay. If he'd been 
even sitting up he must have been hit. 
Gamble and Oiler were in the front room 
and Oiler's bed was covered with broken 

^ Mr. Philip S. Rice, of Wilkes-Barre, who was a 
close friend of Mr. Norton, in his spirited account of his 
death, states that a spHnter also had pierced his heart. 
Mr. Rice had crossed over with Mr. Norton and they 
had entered S.S.U. No. 1 together. See An Ambulance 
Driver in France, p. 48, etc., by Philip Sidney Rice, 
Wilkes-Barre. {Editor). 



94 FROM POILU TO YANK 

glass, a piece coining through the wall 
only a couple of inches above him. He 
was unhurt, while Gamble got a cut on 
the shoulder. All the wires were down, 
and Gamble drove in to Louvois in his 
stocking feet to get me. His socks were 
soaked in Norton's blood. I got up and 
dressed, and we were at the "poste" in a 
very few minutes. The body of Norton 
had been taken to the hospital by Oiler 
and Elliott. They had a hard time getting 
it out of the little chalet, as the place 
was a mess of broken glass, splinters, and 
blood. 

The doctor and the other oflScers were 
most kind. We arranged for the funeral 
for nine o'clock the following night, as the 
cemetery is in view of the Bodies and any 
gathering of people would be observed. I 
made all the arrangements for the coffin 
and for flowers, and 'phoned Rue Ray- 
nouard. 



CHIEF OF SECTION 1 95 

In a way, it was lucky that the boys 
had to work all last night. The wires 
being down it was hard work, too; but it 
took their minds off the casualty. Oiler, 
a brand-new man, was pretty well rattled, 
but stuck to his job as well as did the 
others. I told them that Norton could not 
have asked for a better death. It was ab- 
solutely instantaneous, and in the course 
of duty. 

Strater came in from the "poste" with 
a load, and was rather upset, as he had a 
dying man in his car and the road was 
being shelled. He had a miss in his engine 
and was too excited to locate it. I did it 
for him and sent him along without telling 
him about Norton. Later, when he came 
back, he found the chalet empty and blood 
all over everything. When the others got 
in, they found him wandering about with 
a rock in his hand, thinking that a murder 
had been committed ! 



96 FROM POILU TO YANK 

Patterson, who took Norton's place at 
the "poste," and Gamble got into a 
wrangle, but as I appreciated that their 
nerves were on edge, I simply shut them 
up and let it go at that. 
[ July 14. They worked all night hard 
and were about "all in" in the morning. 
Gamble, who had received a slight wound 
on the shoulder said nothing about it 
until yesterday, when I told him to get the 
anti-tetanus injection. All the men acted 
finely. Gamble had his " brancardier " 
quit him on the road to Sillery. A shell 
burst right beside the car and cut the 
roof over their heads, and the "bran- 
cardier" insisted on getting out and crawl- 
ing into a dug-out. Gamble eased on 
through the shells, got his wounded, and 
came back. Pretty good for a man who 
has just been wounded, is it not.^ 

Oiler came and thanked me to-day for 
sending him to the Front "poste." He 



CHIEF OF SECTION 1 97 

said it was the best thing that could have 
happened to him. 

A letter written by the author under 
the spell of these events shows what he 
thought of his men : — 

Dear X: We have had a hectic time lately, 
but the boys stood up to the work finely. 
Three others were in the "poste" waiting to 
go out when called, when the bomb exploded 
which killed Norton. They all had marvel- 
ous escapes, and one. Gamble, was slightly 
wounded, but said nothing about it and con- 
tinued to roll for forty-eight hours thereafter. 
Of course, I went down to the "poste" and 
did my best to steady them up throughout 
the night, for which they all thanked me 
afterwards. Two of them were new and I had 
to make minor repairs for them, as for a time 
they did not seem to be able to think very 
consecutively when their motors balked. But 
they were splendid. Andrew came up to the 
funeral, and all the officers near by were on 
hand. 

The work has eased up a bit now, and I 



98 FROM POILU TO YANK 

have spent most of the day writing letters 
of thanks in "near French" for flowers and 
other expressions of kindness. I think that 
the making of the arrangements for the fun- 
eral was even more tiring than the real work, 
because 't is something of a strain to talk to 
the high officials and to try to speak really 
correct, dignified French! 

Norton was buried on the hillside above 
Rheims, with the shells bursting and plane 
guns going, trench lights rising, flares, col- 
ored signals, and the rattle of the mitrail- 
leuses, and the tracing shells streaking the 
heavens. It seemed as though the Boches 
were joining in doing him honor. 

The men are all pretty tired, but they are 
still on the job. To-day, our Section French- 
men are giving us a return spread for the 
one we gave them on the Fourth, this being 
the 14th. They went out of their way to 
get delicacies, such as crawfish, snails, etc., 
but I fear that most of the Americans will 
have difficulty in pretending to enjoy such a 
succulent menu. However, the champagne 
comes from Rheims! 

Most of us have cut out all liquor except 
white and red wine; but on the 4th and the 



CHIEF OF SECTION 1 99 

14th of July, we make exception to a moderate 
extent. 

The funeral went off without a hitch. All 
day the lieutenant and I went around seeing 
"stripers," and explaining what had hap- 
pened, and finally, after more trouble we 
found a soldier Protestant minister. 

He seemed a trifle overwhelmed at being 
called upon to officiate at such a function; 
but he carried it off very well. We saw the 
Chief, and he said that, of course, Norton 
would be cited, and he would let the citation 
go up as high as possible. Two civilians and 
a nurse sent flowers besides those of the offi- 
cers, the doctors' and ours. Andrew brought 
up a bronze wreath. The coffin was draped 
with the tricolor and American flag with the 
Croix de Guerre on top. We buried him in 
the new graveyard, as the old one only had 
trenches for eight more bodies left, and the 
French were kind enough to allow him a sepa- 
rate grave. His was the first in the new loca- 
tion, and the priest spoke of this as a sort of 
dedication. So there he lies by himself for the 
present, on the hillside, among the vineyards, 
looking down on the Cathedral of Rheims to 
the left, and the Moronvilliers hill on the 



100 FROM POILU TO YANK 

right — where the battle is raging. Norton 
had been with Peary on one of his polar expe- 
ditions. He had hunted big game in the north 
of Africa, and was one of the first men to learn 
to fly a plane, having taken lessons from the 
Wrights many years ago. He was forty years 
old, and that was what kept him out of the 
flying game now. He was a fine all-around 
man, and one of the best we ever had in the 
Section. 

July 15. To add to my troubles, Weld 
received a telegram yesterday announcing 
the death of his uncle. He was his nearest 
relative and he has to go back to settle his 
estate. He left on the noon train. That 
leaves us two short with four men "en 
permission"! However, every one is 
working hard and I expect some new men 
and one " permissionnaire " back to-day. 
I asked for Plow and Francklyn, but 
hardly hope to get them back. 

I made the usual round by the "poste." 
Considerable shelling. 



CHIEF OF SECTION 1 101 

July 20. One of the French officers at 
the Chateau Romont, one of our "postes" 
where the Etat-Major is, had a lucky 
"squeak" the other day. He had just 
laid out his kit, preparatory to rolling it 
up to go "en permission," and had walked 
out of his room to arrange some detail, 
when a big shell, a "220," landed plump 
into the room and blew the whole side and 
roof off the chateau! No one was hurt; 
but the officer was as sore as he could be 
over the loss of his kit, and left on "permis- 
sion" in the clothes he had on and nothing 
else, except a terrible grouch. 

Two new men have arrived to replace 
Norton and Weld. Their names are 
Kreutzberg and O'Connell. Both seem 
to be willing, quiet, and sensible sort of 
chaps. 

July 25. The "permissionn aires" re- 
turned. White, Hanna, and Dallin. They 
all report the same impossibility in Paris 



102 FROM POILU TO YANK 

to get into the Army. White had an amus- 
ing experience with an old and deaf Amer- 
ican officer recruiting for the engineers. 
After Hstening with difficulty to White's 
term of experience at the Front, his cre- 
dentials, etc., he said: ''Sign these papers. 
Then you may have a job in this office 
as a civilian clerk!" White says he just 
looked at him once, and walked out of 
the place. 

He tells me that a friend of Norton in 
Paris received a letter on the day of his 
death, advising him to come out to Sec- 
tion 1, because the men were "all good 
fellows, especially the Chef"! Pretty nice 
of him, considering that really I had never 
had more than the most formal conversa- 
tions with him. 

July 22. The anti-tetanus knocked 
Gamble hard. He's all swollen up and 
has red splotches all over him. So I in- 
sisted upon his going to the hospital where 



CHIEF OF SECTION 1 103 

he can be properly taken care of. He is 
too good a man to lose through just pre- 
tending he's not sick! His wound, too, is 
suppurating. 

July 23. The work the Section did dur- 
ing the forty-eight hours when Norton 
was killed seems to have made an impres- 
sion, as the old boy has, according to the 
"Loot," decided not only to cite Norton, 
but Gamble, Elliott, Flynn, and me. I 
hope that it proves true, as it has cer- 
tainly been irritating to have so many 
cited, some of whom deserved it and 
others did n't, as we all know. It seems 
to be part luck and part pushing one's 
self forward, except, of course, when it is 
really deserved as in the case of Gamble, 
Elliott, and some others. Flynn should 
certainly have had one at Esnes (Hill 304), 
and the man with him did get it, which 
jarred old Jim. Anyway, the family will 
be happy. 



PART II 

July to October 1917 

Verdun — Douaumont, Hill 304 (Mort 

Homme), Bezenvaux, and Recapturing 

THE Forts in Fierce Struggle 



CHAPTER VI 

IMMORTAL VERDUN 

Dans son brasier, il a jete 
Les cris d'opmiS,trete, 
La rage sourde et seculaire; 
Dans son brasier d'or exalt6, 
Maltre de soi, il a jet6 
R^voltes, deuils, violences, col^res. 
Pour leiir donner la trempe et la clart6 
Du fer et de I'eclair. 
E. Verhaerbn, Le Forgeron {Les Villages Illusoires') 

July 24. Orders came to move out of 
the Fifth Army back to the Second Army, 
at Verdun. So we are oflF to Bar-le-Duc. 
Everything was packed up smoothly and 
we made Vitry-le-Frangois to-night — a 
good run. Strater broke a back spring, and 
Curtis burnt out a bearing; otherwise all 
made the grade. I got a good swim in the 
Marne; had a fine lunch at Chalons and 
a splendid dinner at Vitry. 

July 25. Writing to a near relative at 
this time, the author said: — 



108 FROM POILU TO YANK 

You '11 be glad, I know, to hear that I have 
been personally cited for the Croix de Guerre 
by the General of the 42d Cavalry Corps. 
I don't know just why they picked on me, 
but I suppose it was for straightening the 
tangle the night Norton was killed. Anyway, 
the order reads as follows : — 

The Adjutant Commander Stevenson, W. Yorke: — 

Section sanitaire Americaine N°. 1. Engage volon- 
taire depuis Fevrier 1916, Commandant adjoint de la 
Section Sanitaire Americaine N° 1, n'hesitant jamais a 
payer de sa personne, a largement contribue a I'organi- 
sation et a la direction des evacuations sous le feu de 
Tennemi. Brave, devoue, et d'une modestie rare. 

(signe) LouET 
Quartier General, le 30 Juillet, 1917 

Some hot air! However, I am awfully glad 
to get it just the same. 

We have moved from the Rheims district, 
and are back again on our old stamping 
ground, Verdun. The figuring is that there is 
going to be a resumption of activity here- 
abouts; but, of course, rumors are so thick 
along the line that one never knows what 
is fact. I should not be surprised, however, 
if you heard from this Section again. We 
made the trip over here in fine shape — just 



IMMORTAL VERDUN 109 

twenty-four hours and only two cars broken 
down, both of which rejoined before we 
reached our ultimate destination, which is 
the famous Saint-Mihiel salient.^ 

There seem to be quite a few American 
troops scattered along the line already. We 
ran across them several times on our way 
over here. We came along the Marne Valley 
by way of Chalons, Vitry-le-Frangois, and, 
by luck, had good weather. By the way, an 
Army Corps citation bears the gold star. 

July 25. The absence of the Rochet 
Schneider "camion" makes the White 
truck and all the ambulances carry a lot 
of extra weight, which certainly is hard 
on them. So I set a very easy pace. We 
got to Bar-le-Duc all right. We found 
there Sections 6, 9, 15, and a Harjes truck. 
Evidently we are going "en repos" aw^ait- 
ing the much-talked-of Verdun offensive. 
The place is thick with troops; but if the 

^ Where the American Army made its first indepen- 
dent oflfensive on September 11, 1918, under General 
Pershing. {Editor.) 



110 FROM POILU TO YANK 

Boches continue to attack at Craonne, 
this ofiFensive may have to be put off. I 
had to leave Gamble at Louvois in the 
hospital, as he has n't recovered from his 
wound. 

We reached Evres at noon to-day. 
Everybody all right, but terribly dusty 
and tired. Pretty poor " cantonnements," 
especially after Louvois, which was the 
best we ever had. 

July 26. Gamble rejoined us to-day. 
He made a quick trip by way of Sainte- 
Menehould where he lunched with Sec- 
tion 13, which he says is in poor shape, 
with a personnel much below the stan- 
dard set by Sections 1, 2, and 3. He says 
that apparently we have a very high 
reputation among the newer Sections, and 
are much looked up to. 

He likewise says that the night after 
we left Louvois, the Boches dropped over 
two thousand shells on the "poste"at 



IMMORTAL VERDUN 111 

Sillery and Esperance, and that the Sec- 
tion which reheved us quit cold, and re- 
fused to budge for six hours, so that the 
"postes" were jammed with wounded. 
Pretty rotten, that. And also hard luck 
for us, as had we been there that would 
have meant another citation for us in all 
probability. The boys never would have 
allowed such an opportimity to go by. 

July 28. Flynn and Stockwell have 
agreed to sign up for another three months. 
I am awfully glad to have been able to 
persuade them to remain, as they are 
both A No. 1 men. 

I had an interesting talk with an oflB- 
cer who is "cantonned" here, and is in 
the artillery. He remarked that he had 
heard from our "Loot" that I had been 
cited. I said something about not under- 
standing why they were so generous with 
the Croix to Americans, when lots of 
Frenchmen had not got it who had ac- 



in FROM POILU TO YANK 

tually been in the trenches. He replied 
that that had nothing to do with it. They 
were forced to go in; many of them very 
much against their will; whereas the 
Ambulance men, who had volunteered 
long before the United States had entered 
the war, were each and every one a small 
but vital factor in bringing America in. 
Every time a man volunteered, he car- 
ried with him the hopes and sympathies 
of all his relatives and friends; and as the 
Ambulance grew, so did the pro-Ally 
sentiment grow by leaps and bounds in 
the United States.^ 

^ Mr. Coningsby Dawson, in his latest little book 
Out to Win (pp. 58-59), when dealing with the various 
causes that brought the United States into the war, 
seems to agree thoroughly with this idea. He points 
out how, in the face of our neutrality, "one by one, and 
in little protesting bands, the friends of the Allies 
slipped overseas bound on self-imposed sacrificial 
quests; they went like knight-errants to the rescue. 
They were men like Alan Seeger, of the Foreign Legion; 
others chose the Ambulance Service; others, positions 
on the Commission for the Relief of Belgium. Soon 



IMMORTAL VERDUN 113 

That was a point of view of which I 
had not thought, but apparently it is 
held by a great many Frenchmen. He 
said that he had no doubt that this was 
the reason why Andrew, as head, had 
received the Legion of Honor. He added 
that he, for one, would give the Croix to 
every American who had come before the 
war had been declared and who had act- 

*le Train Americain' was seen rolling through France 
under both the French and the American flags. At 
Neuilly, the American Hospital sprang up. By the time 
President Wilson flung his challenge, eighty-six War 
Relief Organizations were operating in France; while 
ninety per cent of their workers were toiling in the 
United States sending over supplies: 

"Long before April, 1917, American college boys had 
won a name by their devotion in forcing their ambu- 
lances over the shell-torn roads in every part of the 
French Front, but, perhaps, with peculiar heroism at 
Verdun. . . . The report of the sacrificial courage of 
these pioneers had traveled to every State of the Union. 
Their example had stirred, shamed, and educated the 
Nation. It is to these knight-errants — very many of 
them boys and girls — that I attribute America's eager 
acceptance of Calvary, when, at last, it was offered to 
her by her statesmen." {Editor,) 



114 FROM POILU TO YANK 

ually been under fire. Of course, some of 
the new Sections have never been up to 
the lines; nor has the Paris Section. Also 
we have had a small percentage of quit- 
ters; but, aside from these, he thinks that 
all should have it, varying the degree 
according to special cases. 

He thinks that the men killed or 
wounded should get the palm; the Chiefs, 
the gold star; and the privates, silver or 
bronze stars, according to circumstances. 

July 29. My landlady is a pessimist. 
Her front windows open right on the 
road to Verdun and she says she has n't 
a chance to leave the front room because 
passing "poilus" "swipe" everything. 
She says that she is only too glad when 
they go by in "camions," despite the 
dust which is so thick that she can't 
recognize her own furniture, simply be- 
cause they can't reach in and get away 
with her pans, clothes, and other belong- 



IMMORTAL VERDUN 115 

ings. She declared that they don't seem 
to care whether the clothes they take are 
women's clothes or not. 

Although of a stern exterior and sur- 
rounded with a deep haze of gloom, she 
really is kind-hearted enough under- 
neath, and takes good care of me in her 
morose sort of way. She had never seen 
a typewriter before, and when, after sev- 
eral days of hearing the tictac, her curi- 
osity overcame her aloofness and pride, 
she actually poked her head in to see 
what it was; she was hypnotized watch- 
ing the printed lines forming. She was 
particularly interested in the manifolding 
process. 

Dick Plow came back to-day and 
every one was delighted. His return and 
a little persuasion on my part enabled 
me to sign up Flynn, Townsend, Stock- 
well, Elliott, and Hanna for another 
three months. Funny how a little thing 



116 FROM POILU TO YANK 

like that sometimes makes a lot of differ- 
ence. The Section would have been shot 
to pieces next month if all those men had 
quit. 

August 1. Orders came to move to 
Haudainville near Verdun. I went over 
to look at the Sector and found it "a 
bird"! Mostly in reconquered territory. 
The "poste" is beyond even Fleury, 
right up to Douaumont, at Haudromont. 
Three cars stay at the old Caserne Mar- 
ceau "poste," and go from there forward 
to Forts Vaux, Damloup, and Souville. 
Fleury is merely a spot on the map. The 
town is obliterated. Two other cars are 
stationed at Verdun and run to Tavanne 
and beyond Bras, toward Douaumont, 
Haudromont, and Louvaumont. In fact. 
Section 1 is doing what it took two Sec- 
tions to do before. And what pleases us 
most is that Section 4 takes our evacu- 
ations back to Vadelaincourt, a fact which 



IMMORTAL VERDUN 117 

naturally they do not enjoy. We dump 
our wounded at Verdun. 

There is much talk of an attack here, 
and "permissions" have been canceled 
throughout the Second Army. W^e are 
attached to the 69th Division. I met all 
the high chieftains and they certainly 
were most friendly and polite, although 
Reymond had a funny argiunent with 
the Medecin Chef at Vaux, who insisted 
upon our carrying corpses of men killed 
right around the "poste." We demurred, 
saying that it was the job of the mor- 
tuary wagons. Finally we compromised, 
the Lieutenant agreeing that if the 
corpses were still warm (!) we should 
carry them; but not any that had been 
dead a length of time. Rather gruesome, 
that, is it not.f^ 

We relieved the 109th French Ambu- 
lance Section whose cars were not equal 
to the bad roads, being too low-hung and 



120 FROM POILU TO YANK 

August 4. Changed hospitals and, after 
some trouble, I arranged that our cars 
should do only front-line work, a French 
Section taking the evacuation. Section 5 
now evacuates to Glorieux; so we no 
longer are "cantonned" together at the 
"poste." Galatti stopped in and in- 
spected us, expressing himseK as well 
satisfied. 

August 5. A lucky day! All spare 
parts, including new motor recently or- 
dered, arrived this morning. This after- 
noon the Lieutenant handed me the cita- 
tion from the Second Cavalry Corps of 
the Fifth Army, the text of which is 
given under date July 25. 

Gamble and Elliott were also cited for 
their work on the night when Norton 
was killed. The work is too heavy just 
now for us to celebrate; but we will do 
so later with a big dinner. 

We are up to our ears in work now, and 



IMMORTAL VERDUN 121 

several of the men have had close calls. 
We are working in reconquered territory, 
and it is most interesting, but ghastly, 
as the bits of bodies lie unburied for days. 
The men are working finely and I never 
had a better crowd. Rain, of course, all 
the time, and the most frightful roads. 
In fact, no roads at all in spots. As for 
Douaumont, it is a sight! Patterson re- 
turned from his ''permission" and found 
an order for him to go back to Paris to 
report to the American Army Commis- 
sion for examination. As he had been 
two days on the road trying to find the 
Section and sleeping on chairs, tables, 
and any old thing, he was anything but 
pleased. However, he had to go back. 

August 6. Busy night. There was 
heavy traflBc and fog, and the combina- 
tion made it very hard on the men. We 
had no accidents, however. 

August 8. Our chief troubles are broken 



m FROM POILU TO YANK 

springs. Working out around Douau- 
mont the roads are frightful. Dead horses 
lie around for days and also bits of hu- 
man beings — for when a shell lands near 
some one the pieces are never all gath- 
ered. The only signs of life one sees are 
the flies, rats, and ravens. Passing along 
that road the other day to get one of our 
men out of a ditch, I saw a boot lying on 
the way. I picked it up to throw it out of 
the road and found a rotten leg still in it ! 

August 9. The Germans shelled the 
Caserne Marceau next to the hospital 
just at dinner-time. Everybody fell flat on 
his stomach or dived under cars or into 
"abris." Quite a funny sight. The shelling 
kept up for about twenty minutes — 
big fellows. They killed a lot of officers' 
horses, and knocked some bodies out of 
their graves in the cemetery, but only a 
couple of men were slightly wounded. 

Bullard, of Norton-Harjes — brand- 




A BUNGALOW NEAR SOUVILLE 




CASERNE MARCEAU 



IMMORTAL VERDUN 123 

new, — turned up. He is going to work 
with us from to-morrow. He says his 
men are all raw. They have never been 
under fire. He himself used to be in 
Section 5. I told him that we would do 
all we could for him, show them the 
"postes" and help them out. 

The following is a letter received from 
Major A. Piatt Andrew at this time: — 

Dear YorJce: — 

I congratulate you sincerely on your very 
fine citation. Please express to Mr. Gam- 
ble and Mr. Elliott our gratification also in 
regard to their Croix de Guerre. Steve ^ 
brought back a glowing account of Section 
No. 1, of its condition and of its prospect. 
The Section never has done better than it is 
doing under your leadership and that is say- 
ing a great deal. 

Such a letter is most encouraging. But 
certainly the men are a splendid bunch 

* Meaning Stephen Galatti, second in command of 
the Field Service. 



lU FROM POILU TO YANK 

of lads, and their work is wonderful. We 
are in the midst of the heaviest work the 
Section ever had, not even excluding the 
battle for Fleury, last year at this time. 
I am told we must hold out for about 
another week, which will make almost a 
record for a single Section doing front- 
line work for all the "postes" of the 
Army Corps. Our own Division has been 
"en repos" a week already; but we asked 
as a favor to be allowed to remain and 
do the work of the new attacking Divi- 
sions. The men and the cars are sights 
— plastered with mud from top to bot- 
tom. No fenders or side boxes left; 
nearly every car full of holes from *' eclats " 
of shells, and two of them with their 
entire sides blown out. We use these for 
the gassed men as much as possible, as 
they need all the air they can get. Two 
of my men have been gassed, themselves, 
but were given rapid treatment and are 



IMMORTAL VERDUN 125 

all right. Another, Oiler, is in the hos- 
pital with appendicitis; and still another 
has had a nervous breakdown, and I use 
him only in the daytime, on rare occa- 
sions, and only at easy "postes." The 
rest are rolling. 

August 12. After moving from Hau- 
dainville to the hospital at Caserne Be- 
vaux on the 9th, we had to move out 
again to a plateau, just beside it, where 
we pitched our tents. The reason being 
that a little martinet of a doctor in 
charge of the hospital, was "en permis- 
sion" when we moved up here, and of 
course was not consulted. When he got 
back, in order to show oflf his authority, 
he put us outside. The five-" striper" 
Chef came up to-day and told him plainly 
that it was "one of the biggest mistakes 
he had made yet!" 

The Harjes-Norton Section has come 
up here, too, and is to work with us. 



126 FROM POILU TO YANK 

Gamble knocked his shoulder out of 
joint this morning, cranking his car. So 
I'll let him go down to Paris, as he is no 
more use to us, now. He has a chance 
for a captaincy in the United States 
Army, and he might as well put in his 
time, until his shoulder heals, in arrang- 
ing his own affairs. I am terribly sorry 
to lose him. 

Farnham ran over a drunken "poilu" 
last night, and broke his leg. He is much 
upset about it, although it wasn't his fault. 

August 13. Last night was a big night. 
Most of the Squad was running. A muni- 
tion depot blew up right close to our 
"cantonnement" and kept popping for 
hours thereafter. 

Meantime, I had to go out with Pearl 
and Day to supervise putting in a back 
axle in C.'s car at La Source, one of the 
Front "postes." C, of course, drives 
like a fool, so that his car is out of busi- 



IMMORTAL VERDUN 127 

ness much of the time. When I got back 
I found that one of the men had gone to 
pieces. Several shells dropped near him 
along the road to Haudromont, and 
when he came back and found the muni- 
tion depot going, he collapsed. The 
Lieutenant had given him some brandy 
and had put him in my bed. 



CHAPTER VII 

SIX WEEKS UNDER FIRE — HEROIC ENDURANCE 

There 's a feud between Kelly and Klaw, 

They sputter like steaks on a grid. 
For Klaw calls big Kelly a "Chaw," 

And Kelly says Klaw is a "Yid"; 
There's a row between Linton and Jones, 

And there's trouble with Hyland and Wright, 
And our Barrack resounds with the tones 

Of quarrel, dissension, and fight. . . . 

But wait till it's over; then Klaw 

And Kelly will patch up their row. 
And Linton and Jones will haw! haw! 

At the way that they carry on now. 
The winners and those they defeat 

Will act like good men who fight well. 
For the finish is not hard to meet — 

It 's only the worry that 's hell. 

" The Breaking Point" in Camp and Trench 

Berton Bralet {Songs of the Fighting Trenches). 

During the night, gas shells came in 
at the Haudromont "Poste," and Kreutz- 
berg and Hanna worked in masks for 
some time. Purdy, too, got some hard 
work; and when the "brancardiers" 
dropped one of his wounded men as they 



1 



SIX WEEKS UNDER FIRE 129 

took him out of the car, he, also, went up 
in the air; but he calmed down in a few 
minutes and returned to his "poste" at 
Douaumont. 

August 14. Last night was "a bird!" 
All the roads were under heavy bom- 
bardment — high explosives and gas 
shells. Holt got knocked down, and his 
mask fell off; and if it had not been for 
a Harjes-Norton boy whom he had taken 
up to show him the road, he undoubtedly 
would have been done for, as he was 
blinded and only semi-conscious. They 
dragged him a couple of hundred yards 
to the "poste de secours" at Haudro- 
mont, where he was given anti-gas treat- 
ment, and he got back all right. White 
and Flynn each got the side of his car 
blown out by shells, and got some gas as 
well; while little Tapley had his car al- 
most entirely destroyed by a shell and 
two of his "blesses" killed. All the boys 



ISO FROM POILU TO YANK 

did finely. Curtis's car broke down, so 
I gave him No. 5 — that is, Gamble's 
machine — and he drove twice through 
gas to the "postes" with it. Stout and 
some of the others, earlier in the evening, 
got shelled as they crossed the Douau- 
mont Hill, and had very close calls, hav- 
ing to remain in La Source dug-out for 
several hours, before the barrage let up 
and they could return with their wounded. 

Dallin ^ broke down and was towed back 
this morning. We'll scrap Tapley's car 
and rebuild 17 and 14 out of it. 

August 16. I nearly ''got mine" yes- 
terday. Kreutzberg broke down No. 4 
in the Froide Terre, and I was out with 
the "camion," Pearl, and Day to repair 
it. After it was fixed up, as the car was 
not far from the Haudromont "Poste," 

^ Arthur Dallin. He went into the Artillery School 
at Fontainebleau and joined the 32d Regiment of Ar- 
tillery. 



SIX WEEKS UNDER FIRE 131 

I took it over to help get the "blesses" 
out, as Kreutzberg was worn out and I 
wanted him to get some sleep. On the 
way I met Patterson *'en panne," and 
he warned me not to go by the Bras road, 
as they were *' shelling hell out of it." 
He had only a flat tire, and, of course, I 
went on up by the Bras road. If I had not 
'Tat" would have had no respect for his 
ofiicer. I got there all right, and just as 
I was unscrewing the radiator cap to see 
how the water was, a shell fell through 
the camouflage within five or six feet of 
me. It blew straight up in the air, luck- 
ily. It is the closest call I ever had except- 
ing at Cappy. Stones, mud, and sticks 
rained down and the car was hit in sev- 
eral places. The ''brancardiers" stand- 
ing near by said it must have been the 
mass of camouflage which came down 
that checked the "eclats." No. 4, with 
its new front triangle, steered all over 



132 FROM POILU TO YANK 

the place, not having been correctly ad- 
justed. But I got my load of "blesses" 
and eased back all right. It was cer- 
tainly lucky, as "77's" and "155's" 
were raining all around. Lots of newly 
wounded and killed men and horses lay 
all along the road for at least a couple of 
hundred yards. 

Flynn, who is driving No. 17, a car 
presented by the "young girls of San 
Francisco" and which bears that name 
on its plate, came back to-day announc- 
ing "another German atrocity!" They've 
been knocking out the "young girls of 
San Francisco!" The whole side of his 
car was blown out and it now has been 
repaired by using up what was left of 
Tapley's No. 13. But it is certainly a 
queer-looking ambulance : half a red cross, 
half an Indian head, ''17" on one side, 
*'13" backward and upside down, on the 
other! 



SIX WEEKS UNDER FIRE 133 

Strater came in with a big hole in the 
back of his car, where a "couche" must 
have had a hair-breadth escape. It 
passed just under the "brancard." 

DaUin is a funny chap. He likes to go 
up to the "postes," even when off duty, 
and always asks to accompany the driv- 
ers. Just now he asked to go with Plow 
in the *'camionnette," although the wood 
is being heavily bombarded. They, cer- 
tainly, are a great bunch of boys! One 
could n't ask for a better crowd to lead. 

Mr. Norton came up to inspect his 
Squad. He seems to be a very decent 
sort, excepting that he wears a monocle. 
The Inspector and Chef of the Automo- 
bile Service fell upon us this morning. 
But despite the fact that the cars are 
awful sights — holes all over them, radi- 
ators and mud-guards bent up, side 
boxes "busted" — he expressed himself 
as pleased with the work of the Section. 



134 FROM POILU TO YANK 

He was very anxious about the actual 
road ability of the ears; and when he 
found that all the twenty were marching, 
he was surprised and pleased. That is 
due to Pearl, who is working his head 
off. He keeps the cars going in spite 
of everything and has grown a scraggy 
beard and worn out his clothes in the 
doing. But they go. The boys, too, are 
fine. Hardly any sleep, food grabbed 
when they can get it, but they make 
good every time. They are a splendid 
bunch ! 

August 17. Rice came in plastered 
with mud, this morning. It rains every 
day and the roads are quagmires. Rice, 
who has a well-developed sense of humor, 
remarked, "If I were the French, I'd 
give the Boches the damned country 
and then laugh at them!" 

Pearl was wounded last night. He 
went up with Rice to repair Stockwell's 




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SIX WEEKS UNDER FIRE 135 

car which had broken front springs 
through faUing in a shell hole at Hau- 
dromont. A big one exploded right be- 
side them and drove a hole as big as an 
egg through his forearm. Pearl kept his 
nerve, Rice took him to the "poste," and 
he calmly smoked a cigarette while the 
doctor dressed the wound, which was a 
nasty one. All the ligaments and muscles 
are torn, and he will retain only partial 
use of his hand. The Medecin Chef cited 
him on the spot. He is now in the hos- 
pital here at Bevaux, but I hope to get 
him down to Paris in a few days.^ Red 

^ Mr. Rice, in his little book An Ambulance Driver in 
France, gives a wonderfully graphic account of the inci- 
dent. He and Mr. Pearl, as mentioned by Lieutenant 
Stevenson, had been ordered by him to go to repair Mr. 
Stockwell's car at Fort Haudromont. It was a bad 
night. A shell came at them with a terrific shriek, and 
then, a crash. 

*' Pearl had stepped partly from the seat and had 
crouched down. I had put my head down, and covered 
my face with my arms. The pieces of shell and rocks 
spattered around the car and hit it in several places. 



136 FROM POILU TO YANK 

Day ^ has taken over the mechanic's job, 
and is doing finely. He is quicker than 

Each fraction of a second, I expected to feel a stinging 
sensation; but I quickly came to a realization that I was 
not scratched. I raised my head and asked, 'Are you 
all right. Pearl?' Then I saw a magnificent display of 
calm courage. As he stood up, Pearl replied as quietly 
as if he had discovered something wrong with the front 
tire. 'I think my arm is gone.' 

**It was not gone, but badly shattered. With nervy 
calm and head cool, though he was bleeding badly, he 
got up on the seat beside me. The nearest dressing- 
station was at Houdraumont, and we drove on. . . . 

"At Houdraumont, we left the car at the cross-roads, 
and started to climb the steep, muddy embankment to 
reach the dressing 'poste.* Pearl was losing blood and 
getting weak, but still calm. I am sure he was more 
calm than I was. 

"While his wound was being dressed, I telephoned 
and reported the accident to Stevenson. I reported that 
I would remain at Houdraumont until he could be 

1 Harwood B. Day, of Providence, Rhode Island, 
at the time the above was written had not yet been 
through the technical school at Meaux. Since then, he 
has taken the course and passed well. He enlisted in 
the American Ambulance in September, 1915, joining 
Section 1 in Flanders, returning home in the winter of 

1916. He went back, returning to his old Section in 

1917, and is now First Sergeant in S.S.U. 625, and Chief 
Machinist of the Section. {Editor.) 



SIX WEEKS UNDER FIRE 137 

Pearl, though not so thorough. William 
Armour Pearl ^ is a Rhodes Scholar and a 
wonder. He is the second man wounded 
in this drive and probably will lose the 
use of his arm, fortunately the left. But 

moved. There was some question as to whether he 
might be obliged to stay all night. But it was finally 
decided to move him back to the hospital at Bevaux 
without waiting until morning. It was now pitch dark 
and the roads were crowded with traffic. Progress was 
extremely slow on the way back. We would perhaps 
drive a quarter of an hour and then be held up for a 
quarter of an hour. Shells were arriving and shells were 
departing — it was a bad night. 

"Whenever we stopped, I would open the little front 
window of the car, and ask Pearl how he felt; and al- 
ways would come back the reply, *A11 right.* Once we 
were held up for an unusually long time, and I walked 
ahead to see what was holding up the traffic. It was a 
large gun that had become ditched, and men, horses, 
and trucks were pulling and straining. Finally we were 
on our way, and without other bad delays we reached 
the hospital. It had taken two hours to cover less than 
ten miles. I saw Pearl carried from his stretcher; and 
then I could n't refrain from telling him what I felt: 
* Pearl, you have got the finest, coolest nerve of any man 
I have ever seen.'" 

^ Mr. Pearl was awarded the "Medaille Militaire" 
on June 29, 1918. It carries with it a pension. {Editor.) 



138 FROM POILU TO YANK 

both men had a lucky escape. I have 
been driving myself in order to let some 
of the most worn-out get a little rest. 

A new man, Regan, has arrived and 
looks pretty good. I eased him into the 
work at once. Oiler has a touch of ap- 
pendicitis and I have had to send him 
down to Vadelaincourt for treatment. 
But I have just received a wire saying 
that another new man was on his way. 

August 18. Tapley had a lucky escape 
to-day. Up by the Vaux "Poste" a big 
"420" dropped behind him and com- 
pletely demolished the road, causing a 
sort of landslide down into the ravine. 
He telephoned that he could n't get back, 
as the road was completely blocked and 
wanted to know what to do. I told him 
to get the "Genie" to fix it, which they 
did after some hours' work. 

Every hour some story of lucky escapes 
and weird experiences is brought in as 



SIX WEEKS UNDER FIEE 139 

the men return from the "postes." It is 
the biggest work the Section has ever 
done. 

August 19. The attack starts to-mor- 
row at 4 A.M. We are to be reheved of 
the Haudromont '*Poste" by two French 
Sections! Some comphment, consider- 
ing that only one half of Section 1 was 
working the "poste"! In order to help 
out, I took Oiler's car and drove around. 
We cleared the "poste" completely by 
night, so they could start with a clean 
slate. 

August 20, The attack is on. Carriere 
Sud "Poste," where the Lieutenant and 
I are to take turns, is cut off temporarily 
by heavy barrage. He will go out with 
cars as soon as possible, and I am to re- 
lieve him to-morrow morning; mean- 
while attending to this end. 

Stout broke down on Douaumont Hill 
and had a merry time being towed in by 



140 FROM POILU TO YANK 

Day and the White truck. A new man, 
Paul Cram, has arrived. 

The Lieutenant showed up finely to- 
day. He cleared the road by driving the 
trucks deserted by their drivers out of 
the tangle, shot a lot of wounded horses, 
and had the "Genie" drag the carcasses 
as well as the bodies of the drivers and 
so on. The road was cleared by nine in 
the morning, and the cars are now roll- 
ing all right. 

According to latest reports we ad- 
vanced one and one half kilometers in 
front of Douaumont, not so much over 
by Haudromont but sufficiently along 
both banks of the Meuse to take in the 
whole of Hill 304 on the left bank. Long 
strings of Boche prisoners are coming in, 
grinning and apparently delighted to be 
out of it. We see many plane fights. The 
boys are all rolling finely excepting Stout, 
and he will be on the White truck until 



SIX WEEKS UNDER FIRE 141 

Day gets the car fixed up. I refused 
flatly to roll the whole Section at once, 
knowing that the next couple of days 
will be harder yet. That's why I'm roll- 
ing ten and saving ten. 

August 22. I spent yesterday at the 
"poste." The attack has been an un- 
expectedly big success. All counter-at- 
tacks have been frustrated. The Sani- 
tary Service worked finely. Everybody 
is praising the Americans. Piatt Andrew 
and Colonel Kean, of the United States 
Army, came up in the afternoon. They 
had a lively trip both ways. I showed 
them around and came back with them. 
A shell broke right alongside of the car, 
and showered rocks and mud all over it. 
Shrapnel also came close to us, and we 
passed many dead bodies of men and 
horses in every stage of decomposition 
and dismemberment. We also passed 
many Boche prisoners. In fact our visi- 



142 FROM POILU TO YANK 

tors were treated to the entire ''mise-en- 
scene" of the battle of Verdun. I thmk 
that they were decidedly impressed. 

To-day things are quieter. Rice had 
another close call at La Source, however. 
Cram, the new man, did well; also the 
other new man, Regan. 

It is funny how certain things help. 
There has been a dead horse lying for 
several days just at the top of the hill, 
coming out of Chambouillat. First he 
swelled up, and now he is beginning to 
disintegrate. The boys have christened 
him "Old Wrinkle Belly." They feel 
that, once they have passed him, they 
are comparatively safe. This is not true, 
as the shelling at Fleury corner and 
Saint-Fismes is just as dangerous, al- 
though the road improves. At night they 
can always smell "Old Wrinkle Belly" 
fifty yards before they come to him, and 
that encourages them, they say. 



SIX WEEKS UNDER FIRE 143 

Of course, the smell is terrific every- 
where; and some of the troops wear their 
gas masks on account of this as much as 
because of the gas. The drivers of the 
dead wagons generally wear their masks, 
too, as do the collectors of the dead. At 
first I was inclined to attribute it to a 
sort of superstition, as not wishing their 
faces to be exposed during their grue- 
some business of putting together dis- 
membered bodies or collecting them in 
sacks; but they tell me that it is simply 
on account of the odor. 

Still another new man came up to-day: 
Mark Brennan, who has been in Salonica 
with Section 10. He looks a bit nervous, 
but may be all right. 

August 23. I was asked by the Harjes 
contingent to stand sponsor for the 
decoration of Reed, their man who had 
his hand blown off. As there were, as 
yet, no Croix de Guerre men in their 



144 FROM POILU TO YANK 

Section, they invited me to officiate. So 
the ceremony came oflF yesterday after- 
noon. 

Last night we had a big aeroplane raid 
around here. One man was killed by a 
mitrailleuse on the road in front of the 
hospital, and an ammunition storage 
place was blown up. Many bombs fell 
close to our camp and most of the boys 
took to the trenches and to the dug-outs. 

Dallin leaves to-morrow. I am aw- 
fully sorry to see him go. I am sending 
down Curtis, as he is in a nervous condi- 
tion and is useless to us; also Oiler, who 
has appendicitis, and poor Pearl. O'Con- 
nell came to me with a tale of woe about 
being sick also, and I am easing him off 
too. The fewer weak brethren we have 
with us just now, the better. This is real 
work. 

August 24. This job certainly is in- 
structive, if nothing else. I am becoming 




o 

X 

o 



SIX WEEKS UNDER FIRE 145 

quite a doctor. I treat all my children 
with the medicine chest furnished by the 
Service. All the various dopes are de- 
scribed and numbered in a little cata- 
logue. I catechize the patient, look wise, 
scratch my chin, and then, after a quick 
"once over" of the catalogue, hand 
him out the pills, quoting the instruc- 
tions as if I really knew something about 
them. Personally, I have lived through 
two years on "granules des Vosges" 
and "pinard" very successfully. The 
former is the best cure for colds I ever 
struck, and the other settles all stomach 
troubles. 

Strater broke down again to-day. This 
time it is a back axle. I first sent out 
Plow in the "camionnette," and then, 
luckily, thought I'd take a look myself 
with the staff car. Found him in the 
bottom of a ravine near Fort Tavannes, 
and it would have been impossible to get 



146 FROM POILU TO YANK 

him out except by hooking up both cars 
tandem and touring him out that way. 
We've christened it ''System D." 

August 27. The French made another 
advance last night on Beaumont, but 
later got thrown back. We are taking 
prisoners of the Bavarian Guard just now. 
The French big guns did some remark- 
able shooting the other day. There was 
a sort of obelisk about the size of Cleo- 
patra's needle, some three kilometers 
inside the Boche lines, which they used 
as a sighting and observation post. One 
of the big guns back at Haudainville, 
fully fifteen kilometers away, was or- 
dered to destroy it. The first shot fell 
right beside the monument, and the 
second blew it to pieces. 

One of the Harjes men, fooling with a 
"75" detonator fuse, pretty nearly blew 
off his hand yesterday, and received a 
number of splinters in his stomach. He 



SIX WEEKS UNDER FIRE 147 

had to go through a severe operation; 
but, of course, he is getting very Httle 
sympathy, as he certainly has had enough 
warnings not to fool with hand grenades, 
fusees, and the like. 

Curtis, O'Connell, Oiler went ofif on 
sick-leaves. I also sent down Pearl and 
Dallin, the latter's term being up. I am 
awfully sorry to see the two latter go not 
to return. 

Up at the "poste" again yesterday. 
The road is in better shape, but the smell 
is frightful from the unburied dead. 

BuUard, the Chef of Harjes Section, 
which is working with us, had a re- 
markably narrow escape the other day. 
An "eclat" of a shell which exploded 
right in front of his car hit his watch after 
cutting his trousers and coat. The watch 
was hammered into his stomach, but 
only one eighth of an inch or so, leaving 
a nasty cut and a big bruise. The 



148 FROM POILU TO YANK 

"eclat" was driven into the watch and 
through a half -franc piece! He's got the 
whole collection as a souvenir. This even 
beats Waldo Peirce's pocketbook for 
luck, although Bullard was too much 
shaken to pull the "bon mot" Waldo did. 
Bullard is a splendid fellow, and he is 
doing mighty well with his raw Section. 
He looks dreadfully tired, and it must 
be some strain to have to tackle such a 
Lieutenant as his — especially, perfectly 
new at the game as he is — in addition 
to his new men. I certainly take off my 
hat to him. 

August 28. Boche counter-attacks con- 
tinue, but the French artillery seems 
able to hold them. Long lines of pris- 
oners still come past us. The Germans 
are bombing and shelling everything in- 
discriminately, including hospitals. They 
killed a number of women nurses at 
Vadelaincourt. The hospital there is 



SIX WEEKS UNDER FIRE 149 

dose to the aviation camp, and they may 
have been trying for the latter. At Be- 
lonpy and Dugny, however, there was no 
mistake. They killed a number of nurses 
and also the Division Paymaster. 

Here, at Beaulieu Bevaux, they shell 
the barracks on one side of us and the 
railway on the other, and lob big fellows 
on to the "convois" below and behind 
us. So the fellows who are supposed to 
be resting from front-line work get rela- 
tively little sleep. The strain is terrific, 
but the men are standing up to it mag- 
nificently. 

August 29. The 42d Division, which 
bore the brunt of the big attack and to 
which we asked as a favor to be at- 
tached, is coming out to-day, and our 
own Division, the 69th, is going in. This 
means a continuation of the work for us, 
for a while at least; but it should help 
our reputation a lot! It is about the 



150 FROM POILU TO YANK 

longest the Section has ever had in real 
attacking work, and every car is still roll- 
ing. I slipped Stocky, Holt, and Purdy 
surreptitiously on to Paris. It helps the 
morale of the men to feel that they are 
not being "stung" out of their "permis- 
sions"; and they certainly deserved it. 

I suppose that we shall lose the Harjes 
Section now that we are attached once 
more to our own Divisionists. Fine as 
are the fellows, I shall not regret their 
very annoying Lieutenant, who is con- 
stantly butting into our aflfairs. Being the 
oldest man in point of service, he has a 
right to give orders to our Lieutenant, 
despite the fact that this Section is by 
far the elder of the two, and that the men 
are all experienced and quite capable of 
teaching him his job. He is not a Chev- 
alier Bayard, and he assumed for him- 
self all the credit for our Lieutenant's 
splendid work up at the Front "postes." 



SIX WEEKS UNDEH FffiE 151 

He himself stayed back here and let us 
handle the advance stuff. Then he'd 
undertake to give all sorts of conflicting 
orders, to which, however, we paid not 
the slightest attention, but kept on do- 
ing our own job — and doing it well, too. 
August 31. A shell landed right on top 
of car No. 4 at Carriere Sud last night. 
Luckily, Regan, the driver, slid for the 
dug-out in time. The car was entirely 
destroyed and two Harjes Fiats were 
also badly damaged. We have stripped 
what could be used and scrapped it, wir- 
ing Andrew for a new car to replace it. 
Red Day and I had a tight squeak in the 
staff car at Haudainville. They were 
shelling the road with "220's" at half- 
a-minute's intervals. So we got up as 
close as we dared, and then made a dash 
for it with the throttle wide open just 
after a shell had landed. We made it by 
the skin of our teeth, the next shell fall- 



152 FROM POILU TO YANK 

ing within thirty feet behind us exactly 
on the road. The shock was terrijSc and 
our ears were dulled for an hour or more. 
Coming back, the shelling had stopped. 

September 1. Section 61, our next-door 
neighbors, were celebrating last night, 
as they are going to the rear. They in- 
vented a new battle song for the occa- 
sion, the chorus of which began: "Hur- 
rah! Hurrah! We're going to the rear!" 
Hardly heroic, but doubtless expressive 
of the real sentiments of those concerned. 
Our boys "kidded" them, shouting over 
in derision: "Section 1 to the Front, 
Harjes to the rear!!" Boys will be 
boys! 

September 2. Our Division the 69th, 
is in again. Having served it from Au- 
gust 1 to 10, and then the 42d from Au- 
gust 10 to September 1, we are going on 
again now. Some record! We took the 
Medecin Principal up this morning in 



SIX WEEKS UNDER FIRE 153 

Cram's car. It was a scream. The road 
was being shelled both with shrapnel 
and high explosives and the old man 
was pretty nervous. When we got to the 
Carriere Sud opening, he did not even 
wait for the car to stop before he jumped 
for the "abri." He forgot to thank Cram 
for taking him up! 

The Boches shelled around the hos- 
pital all day to-day, and the smell is 
fierce, as they landed several of their 
shells in the graveyard. They nearly 
did for Regan, incidentally, as he came 
around the corner to enter the hospital 
with a load of "blesses." The Harjes 
Section, after all, got left about going to 
the rear! They are simply "en repos" 
here. 

We get shelled all day, and the "avi- 
ons" drop bombs on us every clear night. 
For the first time I hear the men hoping 
for rain! Those boys, by the way, have 



154 FROM POILU TO YANK 

been wonderful. I never saw such work 
as they have been doing. It far exceeds 
anything the Section has done before, 
and I really don't see how they keep it 
up. Of course, I give them every bit of 
rest I can, and insist upon their being 
fed at all hours, both day and night. It 
is putting a crimp in the Section's books, 
but it's keeping them physically fit, any- 
way. 

September 4. Yesterday was a big day 
for S.S.U. No. 1. Six men were cited. 
Flynn, Tapley, Hanna, Stockwell, White, 
and the Lieutenant. Fine citations, too, 
all for special work for the 42d Division 
— not our own, but the one for which 
we were asked as a favor to work. Har- 
jes's got two — but they are being sent 
to the rear. An English Section takes 
their place. We worked with them about 
this time last year, and they are sup- 
posed to be about the best English Sec- 



SIX WEEKS UNDER FIRE 155 

Hon. Another attack is scheduled for 
around the 8th, and they tell us they 
want the very best Sections to be had! 
Some compliment! [ 

Flynn went in on *' permission" to- 
day. I fear that he won't come back. 
The Hayes Section lost two men by de- 
sertion yesterday, to cap the climax of 
their troubles. Altogether they're in 
wrong. 1 feel sorry for poor Bullard, 
who is such a fine fellow. 

Here is a copy of the letter of the Col- 
onel of the 153d Brigade: — , - 

153^ Brigade. Etat-Major. P.C. 21 AoUt 1917, 

Le Colonel Pongin, Cdt. la 153® d'infanterie. 

A Monsieur le General Commandant 

la 42® Division. 

J'ai rhonneur de vous signaler la conduite 

absolument remarquable du detachement du 

B.D. 42® depuis son arrivee au secteur a la 

Carriere Sud. Je tiens a vous signaler parti- 

culierement : 

Le groupe des auto-sanitaires Americains 



156 FROM POILU TO YANK 

S.S.U. No. 1, et S.S.U. 61, qui a fait preuve 
de la plus belle cranerie et d'un courage 
superbe en assurant, de jour et de nuit, sous 
les bombardements les plus violents, malgre 
les gazes toxiques et le mauvais etat des 
routes, le transport de nos blesses. 

(signe) A. Pongin 

Stockwell returned last night. He will 
stay until his commission in the Ameri- 
can Artillery comes through. He tells 
me that Purdy has signed up again — 
good news! As for Holt, he has tonsil- 
litis in Paris caused by the gas he in- 
haled at Haudromont. Buell, one of the 
new men, got a touch of gas last night, 
and I got the doctor to give him an eme- 
tic. He's all right to-day. We had gas 
here at Bevaux also last night. It kept 
every one snuffling and sneezing, but 
was not strong enough to bother with 
masks. 

Steve Galatti came up from Paris to 
give us the *'once over" yesterday. As 



SIX WEEKS UNDER FIEE 157 

the Boche long-range guns were shelling 
the place at the time, and, the night be- 
fore, the German aviators had dropped 
bombs on him at Souilly, where he had 
been passing the night on his way here, 
and as the gas was quite perceptible, he 
got a fair idea of our work even without 
going to the Front "postes." I offered 
to take him, but he declined on account 
of lack of time, and went down on the 
line to see the other Sections. 

September 6. I went the round of the 
"postes" with the Lieutenant yester- 
day. When we reached the top of the 
Douaumont Hill, we found Ned Town- 
send blocked on his way to Carriere 
Sud; the road was being shelled and an 
enormous crater had been formed — or 
rather a series of craters. Really, there 
was no road at all. We fixed it up by 
pulling away debris sufficiently to per- 
mit a Ford to worm its way past, and 



158 FROM POILU TO YANK 

finally got up. Coming back, Ned blew 
a tire right in the same spot; and, as the 
Boehes could see us plainly, it was n't 
much fun fixing it. We had to duck for 
an "abri" once, when a bunch of shells 
lit right close by. The lieutenant got 
some good pictures, I hope. 

We have made all arrangements to 
work with the new English Section No. 
1. We are paid a compliment by the Med- 
ecin Chef, who refused to allow us to 
work on alternate days. He said that he 
wanted to be sure to have a few Fords, 
as it would be impossible for the big 
English cars (Rolls-Royce, Napiers, Pan- 
hards, etc.) to get up the Carriere Sud 
road. 

Poor Rice went to pieces at about din- 
ner-time; but when he overheard White 
calling him a quitter he went out and 
cranked his car and started up. The man 
was all gone; so when I heard he had dis- 



SIX WEEKS UNDER FIRE 159 

obeyed orders, I went to hunt him up 
around ten o'clock. I found him out near 
Sainte-Fismes, and cursed him for dis- 
obeying and sent him back. I also 
jumped on White, who had no business 
to criticize a man who had worked until 
he broke down.^ It is the quitters that 
need cursing — men who lie down on 

^ Referring in his book to this episode, Mr. Rice 
says: — 

"On the fifteenth of September, after forty-five days 
and forty-five nights under shell fire day and night, we 
received orders to go on repose. A little while later 
Stevenson packed me in his staff car and started me on 
my way to Paris to see a doctor. 

"I was not elated — I was utterly dejected. I had 
wanted to finish strong and I had all but finished in the 
discard. 'Take a month off or as long as you need, but 
I want you to come back,' was Steve's kind and cheer- 
ing parting, as the car pulled down the road. 

"The men in the Section had all been wonderful. 
Lieutenant Reymond had been magnificent; but I am 
sure but for the brainy, watchful, sympathetic leader- 
ship of William Yorke Stevenson, the Section would 
never have held together those long days and nights, 
in that seething, shrieking, blood-stained Hell in front 
of Verdun — *the valley of the shadow of death."* 



160 FROM POILU TO YANK 

their work. I have to be constantly after 
the latter. In one case it was easy to get 
rid of the man the moment he asked to 
go. He got his wish so fast that it must 
have surprised him, as it did others. 
Little Tapley has an abscess; so, as he 
is pretty well done up, I sent him down 
to Paris for his Croix and gave him two 
days' "permission" to get his teeth 
fixed. 

An amusing thing occurred at Bar-le- 
Duc: Tapley was buying a little Croix 
ribbon, and an old "poilu," noticing his 
extreme youth, came up and kissed him! 
You may imagine Tapley 's feelings! 

A photograph, taken at this time, of 
the station of the village of Fleury shows 
that there is not a vestige of the village 
left. You can tell it by one piece of rail! 
The Boches are just behind the camou- 
flage, which may be seen along the road, 
where the car is. The man in the raincoat 



SIX WEEKS UNDER FIRE 161 

IS William A. Pearl, who was wounded 
near there later that very afternoon, and 
will lose the use of his arm. H. B. Day 
is the other fellow standing beside him; 
while I am taking a picture of the post, 
with the sign "Gare de Fleury" propped 
up on the unexploded Boche "220" mil- 
limeter shell. Douaumont is on the left, 
and Vaux and Tavannes on the right, 
but concealed by the camouflage. 

We are still hard at work, and the men 
are still doing wonderfully, considering 
the strain under which they have been 
for five weeks. Two of the cars have been 
completely destroyed by shells, and sev- 
eral others have been very badly hit; 
but we have managed to patch them up 
with bits of board and odds and ends. 
They don't look like ambulances, but 
they run. The sides of one have simply 
been remade out of two canvas sleeping- 
bags. Only two of the men have broken 



162 FROM POILU TO YANK 

down under the nerve strain, but they're 
all getting pretty jumpy. The wounded 
man and two of the men who were gassed, 
I sent down to Paris. The others who 
were only slightly gassed were fixed up 
here. 



CHAPTER VIU 

SECTION 1 EARNS ARMY CITATION AND 
THE PALM 

Void I'heure qui bout de sang et de jeunesse . . . 
Un vaste espoir, venu de I'inconnu, deplace 
L'Equilibre ancien dont les dmes sont lasses; 

La nature parait sculpter 
Un visage nouveau k son eternity. 

Verhaeren, La Foule {Les Visages de la Vie) 

September 7. The attack starts at 4.30 
A.M. to-morrow. Last night was a stinger. 
Dix^ was from 9.30 to 4 a.m. getting 
through, and his car was hit half a dozen 
times. One of the English cars was 
ditched, and the road is simply lined with 
dead and wounded men and horses, 
ditched and smashed trucks, caissons. 

Two of Dix's "couches" got out of the 
car and hid in ''abris," and he had a 

^ Roger Sherman Dix, Jr., entered the Aviation Ser- 
vice. He died of injuries received at the Front in an air- 
plane accident on May 16, 1918. He was from Green- 
bush, Massachusetts, and was a Harvard man. {Editor,) 



164 FROM POILU TO YANK 

hard time finding them. I cannot under- 
stand how the one in the top stretcher 
ever managed it; Farnham and Patter- 
son had bad times too. Rice's nerves are 
better to-day; I dosed him with Veranol 
and put him to bed. To-day he insisted 
on taking his turn; he is still game! — 
but I shall order him off to-night.^ 

Fords are apparently classed with car- 
rier pigeons by the French Army now! 
At least, I received the following letter 
this morning: — 

H.D. Sept. 6th, 1917 

Captain Foix, Intelligence Oflficer, to the 
Staff of the 32d Army Corps: — 

To the Officer Commanding the American 
Ambulances : — 
Dear Sir: I herewith send you two crates 

of pigeons for General Riberpray's Division 

whose headquarters is in the Carriere Sud. 

^ Mr. Rice's heart, I have since heard, was not strong 
when he went over; but his pluck carried him through 
almost until the very end of those awful six weeks. 
(Editor.) 



CITATION FOR SECTION 1 165 

You would be very kind to deliver them on 
behalf of the 32d Army Corps. You would 
thus do me a great service, for our cars can- 
not go so far. I thank you very sincerely for 
your kind help and remain, dear Sir, 

Very truly yours, 

Henri Foix 

With this letter there came two crates 
of perfectly good carrier pigeons, to be 
used because telephone communication 
is cut, and the road is not likely to be 
constantly passable! Some "ad" for 
Ford cars! 1 gave them to Ned Town- 
send and told him to "fly" with them! 

Regan pulled "a funny one" up at the 
*'poste." He had some pretty close calls 
getting there, so he asked the Lieutenant 
if he could see the Catholic priest, as he 
had not confessed for some time. The 
Lieutenant found the priest, but the 
latter could n't understand English and 
Regan knew no French. Regan then 
asked the Lieutenant to translate his 



166 FROM POILU TO YANK 

confession; but the Lieutenant, being a 
Catholic himself, refused, because, he 
said, it was n't the proper thing for a 
third party to hear a confession. Then 
the priest had a happy thought, and said 
that he could absolve, or do whatever 
Regan's sins required, without under- 
standing them. So Regan confessed in 
English, and got next to Heaven in good 
shape, although the priest did n't under- 
stand a word. At any rate, everybody 
seems to have been satisfied. 

September 11. Some hectic sessions 
we've had in the last few days! On the 
9th a heavy fog obscured the roads and 
we had much gas. Six cars were knocked 
out; Stocky and Hanna collided full head 
on and smashed both front assemblies; 
Buell wrapped himself up around a tree 
— which he swears walked right out in 
the middle of the road. He was so dead- 
tired that he saw things moving. I have 



CITATION FOR SECTION 1 167 

often had that happen myself. Cram 
broke the engine support of his own car, 
and later, dropped No. 5 (Tapley's) over 
the bank, and down some twenty feet, 
at Chambouillat, too, the hottest corner 
there is on the run. He could n't see on 
account of his mask; and when the latter 
came off as he dived under his car, he got 
considerable gas. His car brought up 
against a '* camion" which had previ- 
ously tumbled over the bank at the same 
place. Luckily it remained upright and 
we were able to tow it out this morning. 
As for Cram, himself, he first fell over 
a dead horse, and then landed in a trench 
on top of a dead man. Shrapnel was fall- 
ing all over the place; but he finally got 
out all right, although he is pretty low 
now from gas. 

The latest method to rehabilitate 
"blesses," particularly ''couches," is to 
be stopped by a cut road or a smashed- 



168 FROM POILU TO YANK 

up "ravitaillement" train, while shells 
are coming in. Stout, Dix, Buell, and 
several others report remarkable resur- 
rections. *' Couches" get out and run 
like deer; while "assis" make regular 
Annette Kellerman dives into "abris." 
Dix had to go up and down a line of dug- 
outs shouting: "Oosong mes blesses! 
Oosong mes blesses!" for half an hour 
the other night, before he finally cor- 
ralled them and proceeded on his way. 
He said that one of his "couches" actu- 
ally climbed off the top-stretcher and 
succeeded in unfastening the back all by 
himself! 

Purdy broke his rear axle running over 
a dead horse. Three of the big English 
cars were ditched and the men refused to 
run any more at night. So we take on 
most of the night work, and they will 
help us all they can in the daytime. 
. The attack, by the way, was only 



CITATION FOR SECTION 1 169 

partly successful and very costly. One 
Division, the 128tli, lost over three thou- 
sand men, one entire regiment being sur- 
rounded and wiped out. The Lieutenant 
and I took turns at the Front "poste." 

Last night the road was completely 
cut by a heavy barrage. As soon as it 
ceased, I went up and filled the largest 
holes by throwing rocks into them, and 
removed broken caissons, etc. I found 
the people at the "poste" acting like a 
bunch of "nuts." No one doing any- 
thing but rave. So I took charge and we 
cleared the *'poste" within two hours. 

An amusing incident occurred when a 
shell fell and destroyed completely one 
of the big English cars which already had 
been injured. I was fixing things so that 
our cars could pass up to the door of the 
"abris," avoiding the burning English 
car, when a tall man in a blue cap called 
to me, "Why haven't you got on your 



170 FROM POILU TO YANK 

helmet?" Thinking that he was just a 
Lieutenant Hke the rest of us, I shouted 
back, "How about yourself?" There was 
a laugh from one or two of the other 
*' stripers" who were in the group with 
the tall man, and when I looked up to see 
what they were laughing at, I saw it was 
General Riberpray, himself ! — the Com- 
mander of the 128th Division. I sup- 
posed that I 'd get at least a reprimand for 
taking liberties with a superior officer; 
but he only grinned and said nothing. I 'd 
forgotten to put on my tin derby in the 
hustle of getting my cars out of danger. 

Later, General Riberpray asked me 
about the condition of the road. I told 
him of the big horse "camion," full of 
"pinard" and cheeses, which we had 
been obliged to move out, as the horses 
had been killed and the men had "beaten 
it." I also told him that we could n't get 
away with the "pinard," as the kegs 



CITATION FOR SECTION 1 171 

were too big to handle, but that we had 
taken as many cheeses as we could. 
''Mon Dieu," he shouted, "those are my 
cheeses! that's my ravitaillement wag- 
on!" I said I guessed that he was out of 
luck; and we had a good laugh over it, 
he thanking me for fixing things so that 
the roads could be used. Afterwards 
fresh horses were sent down and the 
wagon was brought up. 

I came back with Brennan^ at about 
three o'clock in the morning. The road 
had been repaired by the "Genie" and 
the night had cleared; and except for 
the customary shrapnel, there was noth- 
ing going on. 

1 Mark V. Brennan remained with the Section when 
it became S.S.U. 625. In April 19-22, 1918, he distin- 
guished himself at Seicheprey for coolness and bravery 
and received a letter of commendation from General 
Pershing. Two other men of the Section, Harold E. 
Purdy and Edward A. G. Wylie, received similar letters. 
(See Bulletin of the American Field Service, June 22, 
1918. Editor.) 



172 FROM POILU TO YANK 

Meantime the hospital and surround- 
ing grounds were being shelled with big 
fellows — probably "380's." One landed 
square in the hospital yard while I was 
working at the typewriter. "Eclats" and 
bits of rock sang all over the place; but, 
of course, I was flat on the ground. 

Rice had a narrow escape when an 
"eclat" as big as your hand fell exactly 
where his head should have been on his 
pillow. It came straight down through 
the tent. Usually he lies reading at that 
time in the morning; but this time he 
happened to be outside. Another fell 
through the dining-room tent and nearly 
brought down Weeny, our waiter, as he 
was peeling potatoes. Rice remarked 
that he'd just as leave go up to the 
"poste" and sleep there! By a curious 
dispensation of Providence, full of poetic 
justice, the only casualty on that occa- 
sion, however, was a perfectly good 



CITATION FOR SECTION 1 173 

Boche prisoner who was killed instantly 
by a bit of stone hitting him square on the 
forehead, a la David and Goliath. 

September 12. General Riberpray was 
killed yesterday morning. It couldn't 
have been more than two hours after we 
had the conversation about ''pinard/* 
cheeses, and helmets! It appears that he 
went down the line and a shell got him. 
It is too bad; he seemed to be a good 
sort. He is to be buried at Bar-le-Duc. 

We had a comparatively quiet night 
for us. Only three cars smashed! Elliott 
and Ned Townsend collided at Cham- 
bouillet; Ned having previously smashed 
the front and back axles of his own car. 
No. 7, at Carriere Sud, while taking up 
Harold Kingsland, who used to be in our 
Section, and is now taking movies to 
raise Red Cross funds, with Paul Rainey, 
the explorer and brother of Roy Rainey, 
the pigeon-shooter. Ned then took the 



174 FRO.M rOILU TO YANK 

new car. No. 4; but it has only a bent 
front axle and triangle. Elliott's car is 
practically gone; both front and back 
axles, side box and fenders. Ned ^yill now 
drive No. 9 (Rice's) and Hugh, No. 5 
(Tapley's). Fl^-nn returned last night 
and I gave him No. 4 to fix up. Robin 
Jay was not exactly pleased, but everj^- 
body has got to do the best he can with 
the wrecks we have. I have wired Paris 
for anotlier new car and a new man as 
well. 

The " remorqueurs " came again this 
morning. They were not too well satis- 
fied when tliey found where they had to 
go to get Ned's and Elliott's cars. Shell- 
ing was light, however, — onl^^ gas. I 
gave tliem *'pinard" and coffee, which 
put them in a better humor; but tliey re- 
marked tliat if they were us, the^^'d find 
another garage for their cars. 

At last, orders have come for us to 



CITATION FOR SECl ION 1 175 

move. We leave to-morrow for Vaucou- 
leurs, immortalized by being the place 
where Joan of Arc came to beg the local 
Duke to come to the assistance of the 
King of France, Charles VII. The boys 
are perfectly delighted. 

September 14. I spent a rotten night. I 
could n't sleep for fear some of the boys 
at the "postes" would get killed on their 
last night. The Lieutenant remarked the 
same thing. Everybody came through, 
however, and we left for Bar-le-Duc, 
where I arranged to give the boys a big 
dinner and a night's rest between sheets at 
the best hotel. The Lieutenant left this 
morning on "permission" long overdue, 
and goes to Dinard to join his wife. 

As we left, the Boches gave us a part- 
ing send-off by landing half a dozen big 
shells around us. It certainly sped up the 
parting guests! How fast the tents were 
taken down was beyond all imagination. 



176 FROM POILU TO YANK 

The Englishmen (A.A. No. 1) invited 
the Lieutenant and me to dinner last 
night and were mighty nice to us. They 
said that we ''had set them a pace that 
they found it damned hard to follow." 
Pretty good for the usually undemon- 
strative and supercilious Englishman, 
was n't it.^ 

September 15. The dinner was a big 
success. As usual it rained during the 
run to Bar-le-Duc. Cram pulled a regu- 
lar "Baylies" by driving deliberately 
over a bank. It's getting to be a habit. 
I had to have him hauled out by a wreck- 
ing crew and towed. The boys now refer 
to ''Cramming a car" in the same way 
we used to employ the verb "to Baylies." 
The fellows made me pretty speeches at 
the dinner; and Patterson was the only 
man to get gay, although I gave them all 
the champagne they wanted. 



PART III 

October 1917 

The Passing of the Volunteer 

S.S.U. No. 1 becomes No. 625 

Ambulance Corps, U.S.A. 

En Repos in Lorraine 
The Land of Jeanne d'Arc 



CHAPTER IX 

DOMREMY AND VAUCOULEURS — REWARDS 

O brave young soul ! who went forth unafraid, 
A simple peasant Maid; 

The Saints who bade thee go are silent now — 
But speaking still art thou. 

Under the Stars that greet the stars thine eyes 
Behold in Paradise, 

Under the Stripes to thy loved France revealed. 
Thy comrades take the field. . . . 

Though the barbarian level to the ground 
The fane where he was crowned, 
The timorous King who left thee to thy fate. 
They did not come too late. . . . 

Thy voice, above the Voices heard by thee. 
Shall bid them set France free; 
They shall complete the work thy love began! 
For thy dear sake, Sainte Jeanne! 

Edward Fuller {Public Ledger, Philadelphia) 

The Vaucouleurs trip was somewhat 
broken as to convoy, as I had to turn in 
four cars at the Bar-le-Duc "pare," to 
have their bodies rebuilt and generally 
overhauled. The Kitchen car and a cou- 



180 FROM POILU TO YANK 

pie of others got lost, but they turned up 
all right later. We have pleasant quar- 
ters; many of the men,, however, preferred 
to rent rooms in the town, the average 
price for which is from five francs to seven 
francs a week. The main squad are quar- 
tered in the ballroom of a little cafe. 

This is a beautiful part of France — 
Nancy, Vaucouleurs, Toul. The country 
has not been messed-up by the war, and 
it is the first time I have realized that 
some of those rare tapestries which I used 
to look at, but failed to appreciate, were 
mere exact copies of what the country 
looks like. 

We are slowly getting over the recent 
work. Personally, I slept straight through 
for twenty-four hours, after I had settled 
the men in their cantonnements and had 
oflScially reported that we were here minus 
four cars which had been smashed by the 
Boches. Our wounded man. Pearl, is 



DOMREMY AND VAUCOULEURS 181 

coming around nicely, excepting for the 
loss of the use of his left arm; and the 
gassed men are pretty well, thanks to the 
antidotes they got in good time. 

We have had wonderful luck in coming 
out of the offensive virtually intact, at 
least as far as men go, for not a single car 
in the whole outfit, excepting the staff car, 
escaped without a hole. The reason the 
staff car did not get "stung," too, was 
that we did n't dare use it, and I ran to 
the posts in an ambulance. 

At all events, we seem to have made 
quite an impression, as the English Sec- 
tion working with us could not make the 
front posts excepting in the daytime, 
whereas we made them day and night on 
account of the lightness of the Fords, and 
the quick-wittedness of our drivers who 
filled up shell holes as fast as they were 
made, with anything handy. Often we 
would remake the road sufficiently for a 



182 FROM POILU TO YANK 

Ford to pass over, three or four times in 
one night. 

We are now "en repos," far from the 
firing-Une. The Medecin Chef has been 
most kind and has cited several of our 
boys whom th^ Lieutenant and I thought 
especially deserving. 

On our way here we passed many 
American troops in training, and they 
gave us no end of cheers when they saw 
the famous Indian Head sign on our cars, 
and so knew that we had just come out 
of Verdun. 

One of the American oflScers remarked 
that he "never had seen such a looking 
crew." To be sure, one half of the boys 
were wearing poilu trousers and poilu 
shoes! Some had on helmets; and all had 
a week or two's growth of beard. Every 
one was covered with mud, and the cars 
were all smashed up as to headlights, fen- 
ders, radiators, and also covered with 



DOMREMY AND VAUCOULEURS 183 

mud and dozens of eclat holes. Altogether, 
it was a scaly -looking bunch of heroes — 
Don Cesar de Bazans, every one! 

September 17. I sent down Farnham, 
Day, and Townsend on "permission" and 
Regan on sick-leave. The latter has a 
badly infected eye. I am slowly getting 
the cars cleaned — also the men. 

It is curious how these sophisticated 
fellows turn to religion after it is all over. 
Here are Brennan, Ryan, White, Flynn, 
and others, who all went to church! 

September 18. The Lieutenant being 
away as well as de Mare, all the "paperas- 
serie" has fallen on Fortin and me. 
We are having a beastly time with the 
"dinky" official letters, telegrams, tele- 
phone calls, and the rest. Poor Fortin is 
working his head off. As for myself, my 
brain is turning into a sort of whirling 
spray. The "Loot" went off too soon, it 
seems, and I spend my time soft-soaping 



184 FROM POILU TO YANK 

officials and trying to explain his absence 
— which is not always made easy. 

We expect to move again shortly, and 
the blessed White truck has a "bum" 
wheel. We are situated where we have no 
auto park to call upon, being neither in 
the Nancy, Toul, or Bar-le-Duc districts, 
and hence are hopelessly handicapped. 
The Rochet-Schneider will have to make 
at least two trips to move the essence and 
oil supply to the Atelier. 

As for the future, and notwithstanding 
Paris gossip about the personnel of the 
coming service, in the new adjustments, 
as far as I can judge, Piatt Andrew and 
Colonel Jefferson Kean will work together. 
We, the field men, are to be taken over. 
Section 1 has not as yet been reached by 
the recruiting officers, as we shifted just 
about the time when they were due to 
take us. At present showing, I think that 
about sixty or seventy per cent of the fel- 



DOMREMY AND VAUCOULEURS 185 

lows will sign up, although the Norton- 
Harjes crowd have quit "en masse." I 
had a long talk with Mr. Richard Norton 
himself about it. He was very nice in 
what he said. He considers that his work 
has been done. The old club volunteer 
spirit must now be eliminated. 

I must say that in this I think he is mis- 
taken, because we will be affected to the 
French Army; and apart from the red 
tape, which is even worse with us Ameri- 
cans than it is with the French, there 
should be little alteration brought into 
our mode of life and work. 

I understand that I am to be taken into 
the American Army with the equivalent 
rank to that which I hold in the French 
Service at present, which is that of First 
Lieutenant. I wear two stripes. Person- 
ally, I do not care much, so long as I can 
remain with my men and with the French 
to whom I am accustomed. There is 



186 FROM POILU TO YANK 

much in knowing the ways and point of 
view of those with whom one is serving, in 
such work as this. 

September 20. Two new men arrived 
during the night. They are Huston and 
Kleineck. The latter looks very good. 
He is middle-aged and serious. The for- 
mer is very young and knows nothing 
about a Ford; neither does he know any 
French; but doubtless he'll soon pick up 
enough to get along. So far, my boys are 
behaving nicely, thank the Lord; but I'm 
not crazy about staying here long, with 
the bad example of the raw recruits who 
are now around us. We are to leave for 
AUainville, near Neufchateau. 

September 24. This is a nice little town 
hidden away in a beautiful rolling country 
said to be full of wild boars. ^ Stout and 

^ Lieutenant Stevenson eventually had some good 
sport, as shown in a letter to a friend: "I was invited 
by the Mayor of a near-by town to go on an official 



DOMREMY AND VAUCOULEURS 187 

Plow have been out hunting, but so far 
have failed to get a shot. 

The Auto Service wants to make a cere- 
mony of the distribution of the new Croix 
de Guerre awarded for the September 
work done by the 69th Division. First, I 
inclined to have the other men who were 
decorated by the 42d Division also offi- 
cially decorated at the same time. But 
on second thought, we decided, Fortin 
and I, that it would look like too much 
of a crowd for so small a personnel; so I 
distributed the Croix last night. Fortin 
made a speech before handing them out 

wild boar hunt last Sunday, and had a great time. 
They employ beaters and dogs, and they handed me an 
ancient shot-gun using the old-fashioned pin-fire car- 
tridges of Civil War days. I got one boar, but, worse 
luck, he died in another fellow's sector. There were 
quite a number of important civilians in the party. We 
had a bully picnic luncheon, and forgot there was a 
war going on, except for an occasional airplane fight. 
During the luncheon a Boche two-seater was brought 
down, the occupants being smashed to a pulp. One of 
them wore the Iron Cross." {Editor.) 



188 FROM POILU TO YANK 

to Elliott, Flynn, Hanna, Stockwell, Tap- 
ley, White, and me. Of course, Elliott 
and I won ours in Champagne; but as we 
left the 42d Cavalry at that time, we 
never went through any regular ceremony 
other than reading the citations. Accord- 
ingly, we had a little speechifying, and a 
mild jollification. 

September 28. Lieutenant Reymond re- 
turned from his ''permission" to-day. 
The boys have lots of fun with the peas- 
ants. They dance with the girls and jolly 
them in great style. We had a regular 
party last night — Rapp, Ogier, et al.y 
w^histled on pieces of cardboard; others 
sang, and all had a fine time. 

September 29, Ned Townsend, Rice, 
Farnham, and Day got back from their 
''permissions" rather the worse for wear; 
but who could blame them.^^ My own 
"permission," which I have not been able 
to take since August, is so long overdue 



DOMREMY AND VAUCOULEURS 189 

that it may have to go by altogether. I 
don't dare to leave while these citations 
are hanging fire. There are splendid ru- 
mors about, but, as yet, nothing official. 

October 4. Section 1 has been cited By 
Order of the Army, and gets the Palm. 
Also Lieutenant Reymond and myself! 

I have wired home the citation which 
reads as follows: — 

2dme Armee, Etat-Major 
Ordre General N^ 924 4 Octobre 1917 

Section Sanitaire Amerieaine N^ 1 

Sous la direction du Sous-Lieutenant Rey- 
mond, James, et du Commandant Americain 
Stevenson, Yorke, s'est vaillamment com- 
portee au cours de I'offensive devant Verdun, 
en aotit 1917, faisant 1 'admiration de tons 
par sa eranerie et son zele, en depit du bom- 
bardement incessant des routes par gros obus 
asphyxiants. N'a pas interrompu son service 
malgre des pertes sensibles. 

(Signe) Le General Commandant VArmSe 

GUILLAUMAT 



190 FROM POILU TO YANK 

October 6. Other citations have come in 
— Kreutzberg, Farnham, Purdy,^ Stout, 
Holt, and Dallin. The last two have left, 
but I am very glad they got theirs, as they 
deserved them well. More citations are 
still coming in — Day, Townsend (this 
makes his second), and Plow; also Rapp 
and Blanchard, two Frenchmen who are 
connected with our Section. 

The Medecin Principal of the 69th 
Division, to which S.S.U. No. 1 was at- 
tached at the time of the second attack 

1 Harold E. Purdy remained with the Section when 
it became S.S.U. Q'^5. He was one of those loaned by 
Lieutenant Stevenson to the American Division next 
to the French Division to which he was attached, 
and "volunteered to do stretcher-bearer work under 
heavy fire when the regular men ran short, and ac- 
quitted himself with conspicuous bravery during the 
three days' fighting around Seicheprey. April 19-22, 
1918." 

The above is quoted from a letter Mr. Purdy received 
from General Pershing himself, published in the Bulle- 
tin of American Ambulance Field Service^ June 22, 1918. 
Two other men of Section 625 were also commended for 
similar service at the same time. {Editor.) 



DOMREMY AND VAUCOULEURS 191 

on Bezenvaux, at Verdun, who had been 
seriously wounded on that famous night 
when General Riberpray was killed, wrote 
to congratulate us on our fine citation of 
which he had heard.^ The letter is ad- 
dressed to Lieutenant Reymond : — 

Mon cher camarade: — 

C'est a Castrier, ou je suis en train de me 
remettre de la grave blessure que j'ai regue le 
7 Septembre devant Verdun, que me parvient 
I'heureuse nouvelle de la citation a I'ordre de 
TArmee obtenue par la S.S.U. N° 1. J'ai vu 
a Toeuvre votre brillant personnel, et je suis 
enchante d'apprendre qu'on a rendu, justice 
a son magnifique allant, a son endurance, a 
son courage, et a son devouement. Je vous 

^ At the time the surgeon was wounded, the road was 
completely cut off by barrage fire; in fact, there was 
no road until Lieutenant Stevenson with some of his 
men went up and repaired it enough for the Fords to 
get through. That night. General Riberpray, Com- 
manding the Sector, and the 128th Division, thanked 
the Lieutenant personally for reestablishing commu- 
nication for traffic, and he earned his second reward. 
The General was killed two or three hours later on that 
night. {Editor. See below, September 12.) 



192 FROM POILU TO YANK 

adresse, ainsi qu'au Lieutenant Stevenson, 
mes plus chaleureuses felicitations. 

Votre cordialement devoue 

(Signe) W. P. Gary 
Medecin Principal de la 96^ Division 

Our real reward, however, is that the 
Section has figured in the big French vic- 
tory at Verdun, and has received all sorts 
of praise from those who saw it at work. 
We had only two men wounded, although 
several others were gassed, and some had 
nervous breakdown. We certainly were 
lucky, as so many of our ambulances were 
destroyed or badly damaged. Several of 
our men, however, are now ill with dysen- 
tery as a result of the gassing they got. 
Stockwell has been operated on; Buell, 
Elliott, and Dix are being treated at 
Johns Hopkins Hospital, near here. I, 
myself, had a couple of close calls, as I 
drove myself at intervals to give some of 
the men a rest. And, of course, the Lieu- 



DOMREMY AND VAUCOULEURS 193 

tenant and I took turns at the front-line 
"postes." Bodies of men and horses lit- 
tered the roads in various stages of disin- 
tegration and many still lay there for days 
after the battle ended. Luckily I have a 
good constitution. I am feeling fine and 
getting stouter every day. I shall be a 
sight when I get home at this rate — per- 
fectly round, like a ball. 

Dilapidated as the Section seems to be 
just now, we feel that we are going out of 
the old regime into the new with every 
reason to be proud of its record. Person- 
ally, I cannot find words to express what 
I think of those wonderful boys. May the 
new Service live up to the old! 

Webster and his recruiting squad ar- 
rived here on September 30, and about 
one half of the Section signed up. Some 
of the best men are leaving — also some of 
the least efficient, so that, on the whole, I 
am fairly well satisfied. All the more so 



194 FROM POILU TO YANK 

as we are to remain with the French 
Army. Our Division is now training the 
American troops. 

Of course, "Bob" Glendinning is a 
friend of mine, and has suggested my join- 
ing him. But that would mean ground 
aviation work, owing to my defective eye- 
sight. It would be something like a clerk- 
ship in Paris. On the other hand, Piatt 
Andrew's attitude toward the question is 
that "to every man his best job." In 
other words, I know this game and would 
have to learn the other. Most of my 
friends now are in aviation, so I was rather 
keen to be with them. However, I shall 
stick to this job "au grand air"! There- 
fore, I have accepted a First Lieutenancy 
in the American Ambulance Service. 

After all, I love the life; and the Sec- 
tion's standard, as far as the personnel 
goes, is as good as ever. Of course, I'd 
like to go home for a while and see the 



DOMREMY AND VAUCOULEURS 195 

family; I miss my people; but, on the 
other hand, I don't have to go to the 
Assemblies, and that helps some! 

The recruiting officers tell me that Piatt 
Andrew is to be made a Major and will 
remain in the Service — for which I am 
truly glad. Of course, with so many of the 
men leaving, we are busy breaking in new 
recruits. It is well that we are still "en 
repos." Andrew has treated this Section 
well. He has sent us a fine lot of men quite 
fully up to the standard to which we are 
accustomed. He told me that he had 
picked out for us the best he could. He 
certainly has. 

You see, when it became likely that the 
American Army would take us over, many 
of the old men went into other branches 
of the American Service — Engineers' 
Corps, Aviation, Artillery, and Camou- 
flage — the more interesting branches. 
So we have to replace very nearly one half 



196 FROM POILU TO YANK 

of our force. For the most part, our fel- 
lows were college lads from the various 
universities and colleges of the country. 
Now, however, we have a wonderful vari- 
ety, not only geographically speaking, but 
of human experience and outlook, and the 
accompanying list may afford a glimpse 
of the material that will form the new 
Section No. 625 of the Sanitary Field 
Service of the United States Army when 
it shall have been turned over officially, 
and of which I have the honor of remain- 
ing in command. 

With such a varied crew of professional 
experts, one might found a new commun- 
ity, and yet, although the group as a whole 
may seem singular as assembled for the 
one purpose, the men uniformly are, 
nevertheless, splendidly willing workers, 
and all amenable to army discipline. Of 
course, their nerve has yet to be tested 
under fire, as we are still ''en repos"; but 



DOMREMY AND VAUCOULEURS 197 



List of the Men of S.S.U. No. 1 
At the Time of the *' Passing of the Volunteer ' 



Age 

19 Railway clerk 

31 Life guard 

18-19 Four college students 

27 School-teacher 

20 Advertising agent 

32 Gold-miner 
18-20 Two bank clerks 
26 Garage owner 
24 Wool merchant 
20 Plumber 

19 Salesman 

16-17 Three schoolboys 

42 Stock-broker 

22 Chauffeur 

33 White slave investigator 
32 Civil engineer 

26 Mechanical engineer 

39 Farmer 

32 City magistrate 

34 Newspaper writer 

31 Professional swimmer 



Pittsburgh 

California 

Yale, Haverford, Harvard, 

Michigan 
Boston 
Chicago 
Iowa 

Chicago and Pittsburgh 
Providence 
Providence 
Pittsburgh 
New York 
Minneapolis, San Francisco, 

and Coatesville 
Wilkes-Barre 
Boston 
New Bedford 
New York 
New York 
Philadelphia 
New York 
Pittsburgh 
Newark 



I firmly believe that they are going to turn 
out as fine a body of men as any squad in 
the field. 

October 10. While in Paris, on my long- 
deferred "permission," I had our Section 



198 FROM POILU TO YANK 

sign, our famous Indian Head which was 
painted for us by Tardieu on the Somme 
last year, used on our stationery as a head- 
ing for our Section. I tried to get the 
Army gray for the paper, but it seems 
that it cannot be done. The printer, how- 
ever, made a pretty fair copy of Tardieu's 
emblem, I think. While it resembles the 
emblem of the Lafayette Escadrille, it 
differs from it in so far as their Indian is 
represented with his mouth open, uttering 
his great war-whoop, whereas our Indian 
is a nice Indian, who keeps his mouth shut. 
I received a letter from Brooke Edwards 
the other day, and he is doing well, but 
does not expect actually to go Boche- 
hunting in the skies until the end of June. 
Paul Kurtz also is doing well and should 
be about beginning now.^ Indeed, all our 

^ Paul Kurtz was killed in May, 1918, just as he 
was beginning to do active service. See above, p. 11. 

(Editor.) 



DOMREMY AND VAUCOULEURS 199 

boys who have gone into aviation appar- 
ently are doing finely — especially Sam 
Walker, who is dropping iron eggs on sub- 
marines in the Navy Aviation Corps. 

Baylies, however, is the wonder of the 
ages. After his adventure with the "Pen- 
guin," of which I sent you an account 
some time ago, he is now reported as rap- 
idly bagging Boches. He surely is a great 
lad, and one of the nicest fellows you ever 
saw. I never met with a man who could 
stand "ragging" as he did when he was 
with us. And now he is on his way to 
being one of the notabilities of the Air 
Service. 

This was a red-letter day. Quite a mail 
from home. Also letters from many 
friends. One from Ralph Pemberton's 
sister. It was very nice of her to take the 
trouble to write. If people only knew how 
good it is to feel one is not forgotten. Miss 
G. E. writes that she is taking care of 



200 FROM POILU TO YANK 

French babies near Lyons. Miss "Fifi" 
Spencer is getting bombed and shelled 
daily in Paris, working at the hospital out 
at Neuilly. It is really very much safer 
at the Front. Aside from a little gas now 
and then, we really live a life of surprising 
luxury and ease. And, by the way, judg- 
ing from the number of prisoners each 
side claims to have captured, in a short 
time all the French and British will be in 
Germany, and all the Germans will be in 
France and England, and then each can 
take a hack at running the other fellow's 
country. This might be a good solution 
of this terrible mix-up on the subject of 
peace. 

I met not long ago an American who, 
before the war, was employed to get the 
necessary concessions for the German 
Bagdad Railway. He says that they paid 
him $200,000 for his work. He was most 
interesting in his stories about the jug- 




§ 

i 

m 

P 
< 

s 

cq 
< 



DOMREMY AND VAUCOULEURS 201 

gling of that railway, which, as every one 
knows now, doubtless, was one of the 
original hidden causes of the present scrap. 

October 15. On my return I found the 
boys all on their toes for work. The spirit 
of them seems to be just the same even 
with the influx of some nine new men, and 
by the way, they have invented a new 
game to stop snoring in the barracks. 
When some one is found to be a disturber 
of the peace, they sprinkle bread-crumbs 
over him and add a little piece of cheese, 
and in about a minute there is sure to be 
a rush of rats over him which generally 
wakes up the victim with a yell ! 

They brought down a couple of Zep- 
pelins near here. One of them must be 
fully seven hundred feet long; it lies clear 
across a valley the two ends resting on the 
hills on either side. It is beautifully fin- 
ished. The Captain's cabin is all enam- 
elled in white, and the various *'nascelles" 



20£ FROM POILU TO YANK 

are of polished wood and metal just like 
high-priced motor boats. A regular ship's 
gangway connects them together. It has 
four motors of some three hundred horse- 
power each. Altogether a wonderful piece 
of work. 

We are still quartered in a marvelous 
chateau belonging to the Comtes de Beau- 
fremont. Parts of the edijBce are Roman 
and the rest was erected about 1400, with 
additions as late as 1600. Some of the old 
fireplaces are superb, and we live finely, 
now that we have patched up the windows 
and part of the roof. There is a superb 
view, as we are on one of the high Vosges 
hills and can see the country for miles 
around. We are not far from Domremy, 
the birthplace of Jeanne d'Arc, and there 
are many interesting ruins near by, as 
well as fine places, such as a splendid 
chateau of the sixteenth century built by 
the Comtes d'Alsace. 



DOMREMY AND VAUCOULEURS 203 

The de Beaufremont family goes back 
to the thirteenth century. The more an- 
cient ruins have oubHettes, fosses, and 
columbaria. The church is of fifteenth- 
century Gothic, built by Jean de Beau- 
fremont who was killed at Agincourt. 

It seems passing strange to see Ameri- 
cans here. But thank Heaven, the 
^' Yanks" are now pouring into France 
— just in time, in the face of the Russian 
and the Italian debacles. The men look 
well and are rapidly picking up modern 
warfare. The unfortunate cyclists, how- 
ever, have to wear the large-brimmed 
sombrero and are compelled to steer in 
the wind with one hand, as they often 
must hold their hat with the other. Now, 
that's "some" job, believe me, on the 
slippery, muddy roads always packed 
with traffic! There are little things like 
that. 

But seriously, c'est la guerre! The 



204 FROM POILU TO YANK 

Americans are here with the Stuff. 
I would buy French bonds, British bonds, 
American bonds, and feel that the money 
was well spent. America at last is doing 
her full share, and She is doing it well 
AND thoroughly. Make no mistake 
about that. It's the real thing at last. I 
can't tell you how glad I feel, even though 
I don't anticipate much more fun out of 
the work from now on, after I become a 
full-fledged Lieutenant in the United 
States Army. But soon I will get accus- 
tomed to the routine, of course, and will 
learn the new job and like it. 

I believe that, to begin with, I shall 
have to go to the technical School for 
American officers at Meaux, for a six 
weeks' course of intensive training this 
winter. 

And, by the way, I figured out to-day, 
that if we kill off about 1,000,000 Germans 
per annum, and they produce 600,000 



DOMREMY AND VAUCOULEURS 205 

new ones — like most vermin, they breed 
very rapidly — it would take about one 
hundred and fifty years to exterminate 
them. We'll have to do better than we 
are doing, you see. 



NOTE 

On January 1, 1918, after many tribu- 
lations, complications, and adjustments, 
the American Ambulance Field Service 
finally and officially ceased to exist and 
became a part of the Ambulance Field 
Service of the United States Army. Si- 
multaneously 21 Rue Raynouard, its 
headquarters, in its original form also 
passed out of existence. The latter event 
was marked by a grand celebration in 
Paris, which took the form of a memo- 
rable banquet attended by the many 
friends of the institution, now trans- 
formed into a Club. 

S.S.U. No. 1, being on duty in Lorraine, 
was unable to attend the festivities that 
marked in Paris the passing of the Ameri- 
can Volunteer. But the justified pride of 
the Section in its record, as well as its 
unalloyed loyalty to the American Flag 



NOTE 207 

under which it felt honored to serve, had 
already been voiced by its leader on a 
former occasion in a simple speech to the 
boys. It is quite Napoleonic in its brevity, 
and Tacitus himself could not have said 
more in so few words: — 

"Fellows: I had a little chat with the 
Medecin Chef this morning. We talked 
of what is coming and of what has been. 
I said I was anxious to get the Section up 
to the Front again. He replied: — 

"'Ah, s'ils marchent comme les autres!' 
"Do you know what that means.? It 
means learning to drive by night exactly 
as if it were day, and without lights. It 
means driving with a gas mask, and it 
means never quitting. 'S'ils marchent 
comme les autres' has been my motto and 
my standard, ever since 'Huts' Townsend^ 

^ Herbert P. Townsend, of New York, succeeded 
Roger Balbiani as Adjutant Commander of Section 1, 
when the latter entered the Aviation Service. 

Roger Balbiani's death was reported in May, 1918. 



208 FROM POILU TO YANK 

— the best leader the Section ever had 

— left us. I've copied his methods and 
tried to get the same type of men he 
had. I think I've succeeded. We have 
what we ' ve always had : ' Pep ' and Devo- 
tion. I expect it of Section No. 1 under 
the American Flag, just as it was taken 
for granted under the Tricolor. 

"I think it is fitting to drink this day 
a silent toast, standing, to Our Dead: — • 
George Frederick Norton, 
Benjamin Russell Woodworth, 
and Howard B. Lines." ^ 

He was American Chef de Section S.S.U. No. 1 at the 
time of the Battle of the Yser and of Ypres. He en- 
tered the Aviation Service, and Herbert P. Townsend 
took his place. He originally came from Cuba, but his 
family was well known in Paris. He won the Croix de 
Guerre while in the Ambulance Service. He had many 
friends who affectionately knew him as "Balbi." He 
was killed in action. (Editor.) 

^ Since then the necrology of the Section has more 
than doubled with the deaths of Paul B. Kurtz, Roger 
Balbiani, Roger Sherman Dix, Peter Avard, and I think 
others. (Editor.) 



NOTE 209 

May Section No. 625 of the Ambu- 
lance Field Service, U.S.A., 'Uive long 
and prosper." For, like Cicero, looking 
back, it may well proudly say: — 

"Hoc maxime officii est, ut quisque 
maxime opis indigeat, ita ei potissimum 
opitulari." 

That is: — 

"This is our special duty, that if any 
one specially needs our help, we should 
give him such help to the utmost of our 
power." (Cicero, de Officiis, i, 15.) 

The Editor 



THE END 



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